


If Wishes Were Inu

by corvusdraconis, Dragon_and_the_Rose, Hollowg1rl



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-07
Updated: 2018-05-03
Packaged: 2019-04-19 14:43:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 30,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14239530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/corvusdraconis/pseuds/corvusdraconis, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dragon_and_the_Rose/pseuds/Dragon_and_the_Rose, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hollowg1rl/pseuds/Hollowg1rl
Summary: [Kagome/Sesshoumaru] AU: Inuyasha makes a wish to be with his true love, and a selfish wish sets into motion the beginning of the end, and revives lost acts not seen in many years... and why does Kirara look so smug?





	1. The Beginning of the End

 

 **A/N:**  Uhhh… I blame Shippō.

 **Beta Love:**  Hollowg1rl (Yay! I'm not completely unsupervised…)

 **Summary:**  [Kagome/Sesshoumaru] AU: Inuyasha makes a wish to be with his true love, and a selfish wish sets into motion the beginning of the end, and revives lost acts not seen in many years... and why does Kirara look so smug?

**If Wishes Were Inu**

Chapter 1

"Each night, when I go to sleep, I die. And the next morning, when I wake up, I am reborn."

―  **Mahatma Gandhi**

"I wish I was able to be with my true love!"

The Shikon no Tama exploded into particles, disappearing in a brilliant explosion of purple light as the sound of a female shrieking in agony filled the empty space that ended in an earth shaking bay of pain.

"Inuyasha?" Miroku asked, running up after the explosion.

Kikyō stood, staring at her hands and flexing them as Inuyasha stepped back from his embrace. Her skin was— alive.

Miroku skidded to a halt as Sango ran into him with a pained oof.

Shippō sprung onto Miroku's shoulder and cried, "Where's Kagome-neechan?!"

Kirara, her body both huge and flaming, sniffed Kikyō and snarled, her fur standing on end.

"Inuyasha— where is Kagome no kimi?" Miroku's voice trembled even as he attached the traditional title of respect to Kagome's name.

"She's returned to me whole," Inuyasha said, the look of wonder on his face as he held Kikyō close. "We've won."

"But what of Kagome?" Sango fretted.

Shippō stood on the charred ground where Kagome had been standing before, huge swaths cut deep into the earth.

"She gave my soul back to me," Kikyō said with a cruel smile. "Her body probably left this world."

"How can you say that you heartless bi—" Shippō screamed as he tried to leap at Kikyō only to have Inuyasha punch him in the face and knock him clear into trees.

"We can all be happy now," Inuyasha said. "So be happy." He took Kikyō by the arm and walked with her away from the charred ruins of Naruku's demise.

"But is the Shikon truly gone?" Sango asked as Miroku stared at his hand— not even scarred. It was completely undamaged— uncursed.

Kikyō turned and smiled. "I don't sense it anymore. We're all free to live our lives without its yoke."

Shippō crawled out of the shrubs and glared hatefully at the back of the reborn miko.

* * *

The first thing she sensed was the twittering of the owls and night insects and the rough grass against her face.

Pain had been her constant companion, and she winced as her head ached and her body seemed wound as tightly as a spring. Her nose twitched as she smelled blood. Animal blood. She looked up and regretted it as she saw a half-eaten carcass in front of her.

Ugh— of all the places to get thrown after—

What had happened?

She remembered reaching for the jewel and Inuyasha reaching for it before her as he stared at her face with a smile, his fingers having grasped it first. Then there was that agonizing pain as her entire body felt like it was on fire and being consumed by acid simultaneously.

Naraku, she knew, was finally dead. That she felt in her bones— but something else was seemingly different, throwing her senses into a state of strangeness. Like— why were the owls so loud?!

"Well, hello there pretty," a rough voice said, and Kagome whirled, a part of her wishing to scream, but she found herself strangely silent, her voice caught in her throat as this new threat dared to approach her after all she had been through— all she had done. Automatically, her arms went to find her bow and arrows, but her bow and arrows were missing.

"Missing something? Heh. You reek of power that I want, and maybe I'll get a little something else for my trouble."

Kagome flattened her lips into a line. If she had no weapon, she would make due with her fingers and gouge out his eyes. She was tired of being bullied, abused, guilty for wanting to take care of herself, and told that someone else would fight for her.

The man was a panther demon, twisting the very childhood image of the most beautiful of big cats into something dark and unnatural. Boogey-men. Things to be feared.

But Kagome was more than a little girl anymore. She was done being a child that accepted that older and more experienced people had the right to treat her as though she couldn't do anything herself, learn anything herself, BE anything but a helpless, undertrained Miko whose abilities relied on fear and desperation. She hadn't been sixteen in a long time, and it was time she acted her age, thought before blabbing at the mouth, acted instead of waiting for someone to rescue her.

"No need to run, pretty," he purred. "Maybe I'll find a reason to keep you around so my kittens can teach you your place."

He leapt, mouth and claws glinting despite the night's darkness.

Kagome suddenly remember something her brother had taught her— not by intending to but by all those times he tried to pounce and tickle her when he thought she wasn't looking or paying attention. She braced herself falling backwards, pulling up her leg as her arms braced.

Purple glow dripped from her hands like poison, and Kagome caught one hand under the yōkai's chin as the other went for the area just under his ribcage. The yōkai's jaw cracked as she screamed, summoning her power from every cell of her body as—

Her other hand burst through the ribs and crushed his heart, ripping it clean out.

She was on her feet in a moment, her eyes piercing the darkness as she saw other glowing eyes approaching. Panther yōkai.

They broke into the clearing and skid to a halt as they saw both their leader's corpse and their leader's heart crushed in Kagome's hand— burnt to char by her still glowing power.

They immediately grovelled. "My Lady! Give us your name that we may greet you with respect!"

Their fur stood on end, their ears flat. They grimaced in fear, and they stank of it. Their tails were puffed out like bottle brushes.

Kagome felt a her lips twitch. It was a struggle to speak. All her effort went into keeping from tearing them all apart for the very offence of being there. "This. One. Is… Kagome," she managed to say, struggling to put any words out that did not explode in anger.

"Kagome-sama!" they all chimed together, grovelling, grovelling, and grovelling some more. "We are yours to command!"

Kagome narrowed her eyes, dropping the charred heart in her hand with disgust and walked out of the forest with the pard of panther yōkai groveling behind her like kittens begging for whatever scraps she might give them.

Kagome realised after about an hour of walking that she had no shoes on, and that was only because a vine had decided to wrap around her ankle and try to trip her. The jerk of the vine caused her to look down to see some impressive claws digging into the dirt. From there, her gaze went to her hands, and she flexed them, watching the tendons move as black claws moved out into an impressive splay.

Kagome's expression darkened. "Inuyasha."

The panther yōkai bumped into her, scrambling and grovelling at her legs. "Forgive us, Kagome-sama! We blindly walked into your most supreme legs."

Kagome narrowed her eyes. Idiots.

She turned and continued her walk. The village was not so far. She could smell the fires and the stench of people and the animals they kept. Her ear twitched, and her nose wrinkled. She would have to suffer it. She looked down at herself.

She needed— clothes.

* * *

Kaede slid open her door screen and looked up to see the very opposite of what she was expecting. "Yōkai!" she cried, falling back on herself as she dove to get her bow. "Do ye think stealing Kagome's face will make ye welcome here?!"

An arrow shot by Kagome's head as she stepped out of the way. For a moment, her eyes bled crimson, but then it was gone.

One of the panther yōkai leapt at the elder priestess. "How dare you shoot your weapon at Kagome-sama!"

Kaede winced in pain, unused to such combat. She braced for pain or death, whichever came first.

Kagome's talons closed around the panther yōkai's neck and she jerked him back, throwing him right through the rice paper covered wall just as Kaede's second purified arrow hit her in the shoulder. She turned her head to look at Kaede, her blue eyes seeming to glow a deep amethyst. Her hand went to the arrow as her yōki rose and the arrow disintegrated. "This Kagome would prefer you keep your arrows to yourself, Kaede-obasan." Every word she said looked painful to her, as if it hurt to put thoughts into words.

"Kagome?" Kaede's face creased in horror. "How is this possible."

Kagome narrowed her eyes at the panthers, and they bowed and groveled in reverse, making their way out of Kaede's house with awkward belly slithering. Kagome wrinkled her nose and snatched a wineskin from one of their belts and gave it to Kaede.

Kaede's face seemed far more focused on Kagome's new and very black claws in front of her.

Kagome narrowed her eyes and dropped it into her lap. "Drink it."

If any remnant of the sixteen year old chatterbox version of herself remained, it was quickly being drowned in stronger, more alien thoughts.

"Kamigami—" Kaede said, taking a drink. "Someone made a wish that wasn't you."

Kagome, finally feeling safe enough to sit, did so on the mat Kagome had always used every visit.

Kaede's eyes grew wide as she realised Kagome was just a little bit more naked than the last time she'd seen her— that modern school uniform she said it was had been a horrible outfit. She had a long, fluffy fur that curled up from her rear, up her back, and over her shoulder like one would wear a shawl, but it still didn't let imagination have much of a exercise.

"This Kagome would appreciate— clothes," she said. Her hands flexed, making an odd popping sound.

Kaede couldn't dig through her old trunks fast enough to comply.

* * *

Kagome tried very hard not to growl as Kaede poked her. She tried even harder not to snarl when Kaede's reiki surged in response to her yōki and tried to have a war without either of their permission. It was really hard to think non violent thoughts when someone's itchy energy was trying to pick at your energy scabs.

"Sorry," Kaede apologised. "I am just…" She sighed. "It's hard to believe that is really you."

Kagome raised a brow. Who else would she be? Of all the people to pretend to be, why would she choose Higurashi Kagome? She grunted a response, trying to think of something more pleasant.  _Why was it so hard to think?_

"I've never seen such a thing," the elder priestess said. "You are— well you're definitely yōkai, but you still retain spiritual powers."

Kagome curled her lip.  _As if yōkai cannot be spiritual? What nonsense is that anyway?_ She thought a moment, rubbing her chin.  _Maybe, it's about faith. Yōkai don't trust in spirits to aid them—_ She frowned. That was giving her a headache. No more thinking for now.

Like that ever worked for her before.

Kagome grit her teeth and tried harder.

"Where will ye go?" Kaede asked.

Kagome had no idea. Thinking that far ahead gave her a greater headache. She couldn't very well stay in the village. That would be— bad. Inuyasha-sized bad.

At least it was getting easier to think, to speak— sort of.

"Away," Kagome said.

Kaede sighed, understanding. Considering the welcome she herself had given, it wasn't hard to put two and two together and get raging villager apocalypse. "Does Inuyasha or the others know?"

Kagome growled lowly.

"That'd be a no then," Kaede said with a deep breath. "I will keep thine secrets, Kagome."

Kagome nodded gratefully and tried not to scare the old woman again. She did like her, it was just so hard to like her when she could hear her scratching her hair follicles into rawness and all her senses wanted to scream. She really needed to get a way before she accidentally did something really bad.

And maybe when she could do more than grunt and say sentences without sounding like she was talking about herself in third person…

_Baby steps, Kagome. Baby steps._

She stood and went to leave. "Thank. You."  _Didn't snarl those out, good job._

Kaede nodded. "Take care of thyself," she replied.

Kagome grabbed one of the panther yōkai— the one that looked the most human— and plunked him down on the front stoop. "Fix it."

"Yes, great Kagome-sama!" the yōkai said, setting to work on fixing the broken wall.

"If you hurt. Anyone. In this village. This Kagome. Will. Eat. You."

"Of course, most blessed Kagome-sama!"

Kagome gave Kaede one final look, bowing her head ever so slightly in respect and then vanished into the dark of night, not even seeing Kaede's baffled expression as the panther yōkai dutifully put her wall back together without complaint.

* * *

"Hey, old woman!" Inuyasha yelled. "When did you make a new house?"

Miroku brained Inuyasha with his staff, the rings jingling. "Can't you ever be polite?"

"The hell? I was being polite!"

"Be better at it!" Sango yelled as she righted part of the fence that looked trampled over. She frowned as she saw the large feline footprints.

"Kaede-obasan?" she called. "Did panther yōkai attack you?"

"Yes," the answer came as Kaede hauled water to the house. "But he apologised and fixed my house."

Sango closed her eyes and did some mental exercises for a minute. "What?"

"Some strange yōkai was here too," Inuyasha said, his nose twitching.

Sango touched a footprint in the soft earth. It was elongated but padded like an animals with non-retractable claws— like a wolf or a canine, perhaps a fox— no, definitely not a fox. Not a bear either. "Inuyasha, stomp your foot down by this footprint."

"Why the hell do you want me to do that?"

"Please just do it?"

"Keh," he harrumphed and stomped his foot into the almost dry mud.

"The foot pads are too pronounced—" Sango said, frowning.

"Another hanyou here in the village?" Inuyasha scoffed.

Sango wrinkled her nose. "Inuyasha, do you smell your brother?"

"Half-brother."

"Well?"

Inuyasha grumped, sniffing. "No."

"You're sure?"

"You can put your nose down there and sniff for yourself!"

Their conversation was interrupted the drop of a water bucket. They turned to see the bucket spilled on the ground as Kaede took in the living Kikyō from top to bottom. "Sister?"

Kikyō, finally both living and not sharing a soul with someone, smiled.  
"I'm finally home, for good." She stared at the new house improvements. "You've changed the house."

Kaede sighed. "It was needing changing."

Kirara sniffed one of the footprints and mewed.

Shippō landed next to the footprint and stared at it. "It looks like Sesshōmaru's."

"What do you mean by that, runt?" Inuyasha said, popping Shippō over the head. "I told Sango my brother wasn't here."

Shippō glowered at Inuyasha and took a springboard leap off his head before floating away into the field nearby.

* * *

"Rin."

"Yes, Sesshōmaru-sama?"

"Give Jaken back the staff of two heads."

"Yes, Sesshōmaru-sama!"

The toad demon weeped as the small child gave him back his staff after having used it as a dance partner in the field. "Thank you, Sesshōmaru-sama!"

"Jaken."

"Y-yes Sesshōmaru-sama?"

"Do not allow a human child to outwit you at every turn."

The yōkai's eyes drew big and watery. "Yes, Sesshōmaru-sama!"

Sesshōmaru's eyes narrowed as he caught the scent of someone new in the air— faint but familiar. What was it?

"Rin, stay here."

"Yes, Sesshōmaru-sama!"

* * *

Rin happily picked flowers in the field, finding many purple and red flowers for Lord Sesshōmaru. A-un snuffled the flowers somewhat curiously and ate a few.

"You're not supposed to eat them, A-un!"

The dragon seemed to shrug.

Rin smiled, putting a wreath of flowers over the dragon's heads— a purple one for Ah and a red one for Un. She gave him a hug and giggled as he snuffled her, licking both sides of her face.

She tried to put a crown of flowers on Jaken, but the toad demon burst into a rage, "Jaken doesn't want stupid flowers on his head! Why can't you respect your elders?"

Rin dodged Jaken and thumped the crown over his head, giggling victoriously as she dashed off to collect more flowers.

Jaken simmered in silence, the heat from his yōki at least managing wilt one petal which proceeded to shoot up his nostril when he breathed. The yōkai choked, coughing as the petal tried its best to murder him. He tried to beat himself upside the face to get it to dislodge and knocked himself out. He fell backwards, landing flat on his back.

_Thuook!_

The petal dislodged and splatted in the middle of his forehead.

A-un shook his heads at the toad demon and resumed chewing on the nearby flowers.

* * *

Rin noticed her almost right away. Her long black hair drifted behind her much like her favourite Inu Daiyōkai in the entire world. Yet, even as she saw her, she felt she knew her. She stood a little taller— straighter. Her face was a little more angular and her expression more feral, but she was definitely familiar. She even had a black Mokomoko-sama over her shoulder and back.

Rin beamed as she made the connection and immediately ran over to her. "Kagome-sama!" she said, throwing her arms around her legs. One of the panther demons looked like it was going to protest the touching of their most revered and feared superior, but Kagome's eyes flashed violet, causing them to back off.

Rin hopped into her embrace and pulled herself up, pressing her chin to Kagome's jaw with a wiggle of her body that reminded onlookers of a pup begging attention from their most respected elder, and Kagome found herself with her teeth bared ever so gently pressing them against Rin's neck in acknowledgement.

 _Why did I just do that?!_ Kagome interrogated herself.

No answer.  _Well fine. Be that way._

Kagome pressed her forehead to Rin's, a feeling of peace settling on her mind and body as the child's familiar warmth remained so.

"Kagome-sama!" Rin greeted again. "Do you wish to have a crown too?" She beamed at her as Kagome blinked, unsure.

Rin placed the crown of flowers on Kagome's head and smiled.

Kagome's eyes went upward and she stared for a bit before a small twist of her lips curved her mouth upwards.

Rin took that as a positive and beamed brightly.

Kagome felt some sort of barrier around her emotions break down and sort themselves more naturally for Rin.

Kindness. Affection. Protection. These things were okay for Rin. Rin was comfortable, respectful— she had not changed.

Rin had approached her like nothing had changed for her, so nothing would.

Rin eyed the panther yōkai with some curious suspicion, but when she approached and put one hand on their heads petting them between the ears, Kagome's gaze did not leave the yōkai. The panther yōkai flattened himself down to the ground getting the warning. Touch Rin and suffer. Protect Rin or suffer.

The part of Kagome that struggled to hold on to her old self wailed that she should not rely on just a gaze to protect Rin from the yōkai that had tried to harm her only the day before, but it was overridden by the stranger, new awareness of the natural order. They had accepted her as their dominant superior to serve until death as her devotees—

A little voice inside her demanded to know how such a thing could be so cut and dry— so violently done and yet accepted as normal, but Kagome had always known that demons were capable of great and many violent deeds just as humans were— and those capable of the emotions of humans were also capable of loyalty, twisted as it was.

Kagome spotted the serow before Rin, and she silently pressed her fingers to the child's mouth, pointing. Rin immediately lay down in the grass, having obviously become well aware that lack of stealth amounted to death from a hungry stomach. Kagome pulled an arrow from her quiver, notched it on the bow's sinew, and pulled back.

Steady. Steady.

SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII—- **THUNK**

The goat-antelope fell to the ground, and Rin went tearing after it. She stood on top, and loudly said "Thank you, serow-san, for the gift of your life!" Rin said as she helped shove the arrow in deeper to make sure the animal was well and truly dead.

Kagome narrowed her eyes but nodded to Rin, kneeling to take the arrow and clean it off before putting it back into her quiver. Then, she put the bow back on her back before running one talon down the animal's belly to expose its innards.

Reaching into the carcass, she sought the soft tenderloin, wanting the softest pieces for the pup.  _Child!_ the little voice in her head hissed.

Rin had already started a fire while she had begun the butchering, and Kagome couldn't help but think that Rin was already a better pack member than Inuyasha had ever been. Ever. Rin gave her the long skewer stick, and Kagome slid it through the tenderloin and set it above the fire for the child to cook. She didn't worry much about the child's ability to cook— she knew that tragedy had forced the girl to grow up in some areas that she'd never have had to do had her parents been alive.

Kagome licked the blood off her talons, and then eyed the carcass, then her panthers. "Eat," she said, saying nothing more.

The panther yōkai descended on the carcass, tearing it to pieces, yet they didn't eat.

Kagome narrowed her eyes.

The bravest of them set a heart into her hands— the offering to her.

Kagome lifted her head slightly and then silently took a bite of it and swallowed. Then and only then did the panthers eat their shares, even to the point of cleaning the meat off the bones.

Rin had already cut pieces off the tenderloin and begun to eat them after making sure Kagome had eaten something, and Kagome boggled and admired Rin for her strange observance and respect.

Somehow, Kagome had eaten half the heart without realising it, and she had licked the blood clean off her talons once more, all while watching Rin tend her fire and eat the meat she was given as it cooked. She even cut off pieces to share with A-un, giggling as the two headed dragon used its tongue to snag the pieces of meat off her palms.

Kagome looked around and plucked two thick leaves from the nearby foliage and then yanked some grass up in her hand. She wove the strands together by rolling the fibres together with her talons until it formed a thick cord. With a low growl, she put her hand into the remains of the carcass and heaved out the precious liver— the most precious thing next to the heart— and set it beside the half of the heart she hadn't eaten. Slowly and deliberately, she wrapped it in the leaves and then used the cord to keep it in a bundle, setting it by the fire stones to keep it safe.

The panthers were licking her bloody arm, cleaning the blood from her skin with their rough tongues, and she tolerated it, allowing them to cement themselves tighter into her service by their own wills.

Realising that Rin had no one but A-un watching over her— the toad yōkai seemed to be missing— Kagome watched over her while the girl grew tired and napped against A-un. While she did not take A-un as a fool or reckless sort, she watched over them both all the same until she felt the wind shift and she smelled Rin's lord approaching. She stood, giving the panthers the eye as she walked away, deeper into the forest and away. The panther yōkai followed, silent as their namesake. The only thing left behind was a bundle wrapped in fresh leaves, tied with a cord of woven grass which Kagome had left by the fire.

* * *

When Sesshōmaru found Rin curled up next to A-un with no Jaken in sight and a mouthwatering tenderloin still cooking over the fire, he felt as if he had missed something significant.

He had given Rin a small hunting knife, but the bones that lay clean down to the white seemed to tell a story that didn't quite add up to his small ward. There was odd scents here, strong in panther yōkai and something else hidden amongst it that his nose couldn't quite place.

Panther yōkai would not be the kind to share food with a human girl and A-un would not have allowed Rin to remain around danger even if Jaken was a sodding idiot, but what had happened that Rin had magically procured a large tasty lunch all by herself?

His eyes wandered to the bundle by the fire— thick and broad leaves wrapping a bundle by the fire, tied in a cord made of woven grass.

_Curious._

He slipped his claw under the loop and tugged it— the offering of the guest hunter, usually given to the owner of the territory as thanks for the hunt when travelling in another's territory. Few remembered the tradition anymore, which is part of what annoyed Sesshōmaru in the changing times. Once even the humans left a portion of their kills to the lords of the land more frequently as tokens of respect, and respect was something lacking between both humans and most yōkai anymore.

The leaves opened to expose half of the heart and the whole liver— choice pieces that showed two things. One, the heart acknowledged the leader and two, the liver was perhaps the most tasty part of a fresh kill. Plus the tenderloin was there over the fire, having obviously been saved for Rin. That was three special parts of a kill "given up" to the offering and to feed the child. He had no doubt at all that it had been to feed Rin.

Sesshōmaru leaned down to place his nose close to the leaves and woven cord, taking in the scent of who had done it.

Respect was earned, and they had. Later, he would remember this scent if or when he met them later. It could be the difference between a sword into the gut or a neck unsnapped if they came upon them sleeping somewhere in his territory unannounced.

The scent was vaguely familiar but distinctly other— a musk he had yet to scent in his travels outside the Western Lands and in the castle of his mother, Inukimi. It was the strong yōki of daiyōkai— the sort of scent that had it been marked on the borders of a territory, would have sent lesser yōkai either fleeing or grovelling.

But this— was no bid for dominance or begging for favour, no. This was simple respect, silent and without grovelling. This was not Sesshōmaru's territory, but it was his pack, strangely formed as it was.

Someone had been here, taking care of his Rin— his— child.

No normal yōkai would do such a thing. His  _mother_  would not even do such a thing. Oh she's brought Rin back to life after that little test in the underworld, but Inukimi cared for Rin only in that it gave her son something to protect, not as a value unto herself.

There was a daiyōkai out there with compassion, and only now did Sesshōmaru understand his father's question: do you have someone to protect?

It was not a weakness after all. It was strength.

* * *

It was odd travelling with a pard of panther yōkai, Kagome realised, not that travelling in itself was odd but that the company she kept was so unlike trekking around with Inuyasha and their band of friends.

Had they been friends?

Kagome wasn't sure. She had been devoted, she remembered, but were they truly her friends?

Mew.

Kagome looked down. A small yellow and black feline yōkai rubbed up against her legs.

Kirara.

The little demon jumped up into her lap and rubbed up against her, wedging her head under her talons as brazenly as ever, letting out a rumbling purr of satisfaction.

_Found you._

Kagome's eyes widened as she continued to rub the firecat's ears ever so gently between her now lethal digits.

Perhaps she did have friends, then.

The firecat proceeded to mark her all over with her scent, renewing bonds using—

Oh.

Brazen creature, she thought. The little feline yōkai was marking her as her property. Only now, Kagome could see the yōki, oh so subtle as it was, sneaking into her personal space and infesting her own aura.

Does Sango realise you are marking her? Kagome wondered. More than a normal cat— so much more.

Kirara was smug, her twin tails waving like flags as she arch-bonked into Kagome's chest and chin. A small smile tugged at Kagome's lips as she bared her teeth and in a flash set her teeth against the feline yōkai's neck. Kirara purred louder, her yōki flaring in approval.

Ah, so that is what you wanted, Kagome thought. Reciprocation. How long had the little demon wanted nothing more than true acceptance on her own terms? How could they have known? How had Inuyasha not known?

Lord Sesshōmaru's disdain suddenly became more clear.

Inuyasha had none of the instincts that forged bonds between demons. He barely had the instincts to forge bonds between humans, either. He was trapped between words— never yōkai or human. He offended demons like he did humans— his very abrasive nature an insult to everyone.

Now, she understood.

It had only taken the last of her human soul to find the truth.

So what was she now?

The new "leader" of the pard brazenly put his head in her lap, looking up at her hopefully. Silent. As it should be.

She slowly alighted her hand upon his head, soothing his ears until his eyes rolled backwards, blessing him with her favour. He, too, purred.

Kagome's mouth parted, teeth bared as she scented the air. This was a safe place to sleep.

Kirara kneaded her lap and curled up in it as she leaned back against the tree and closed her eyes, one hand on Kirara and the other on the panther yōkai as the rest of the pard gathered around her. Had any of her old friends seen it, they might have thought they were protecting her— but the panther yōkai knew better.

She was their protector in every way.

* * *

"Something odd has happened," Miroku said.

Sango eyed him with an expression that said volumes.

Miroku sighed. "More odd. Ever since— Kikyō isn't doing priestess duties," he said in a rush.

"Perhaps she thinks since the Shikon no Tama is gone that her duty is well and truly paid," Sango said.

"But with Kaede being older, the village needs a miko," Miroku said.

"Do you think the Bone-Eater's Well took her home?" Sango asked suddenly.

Miroku frowned. " I want to believe that."

"But you don't think so either."

Miroku looked at Sango, unsure what to think.

"What happens when someone takes the entire soul of another to make themselves complete?" Sango asked.

Miroku tilted his head. "You cannot live without a soul— or a part of one. Even demons have them."

Sango stared into the fire, poking the embers with a stick. "What happens when someone makes a selfish wish on the Shikon, Miroku?"

"It disappears."

"But where?"

"To its most pure guardian to start the cycle again."

Sango's face grew pale as things started to add up to impossible numbers. "What if that guardian just had her entire soul ripped from her body?"

Miroku dropped his staff, the ringlets jingling with a sudden clank. He stared at Sango, comprehension dawning with fear and untold horror. "The Shikon is two souls housed forever within the jewel. Kagome no kimi had always been the jewel's true home." He shook his head adamantly. "Without a soul, the Shikon no Tama could make its own wish to stay with her forever."

"Baring stupidity, what lives forever save the kamigami, Miroku?" Sango said.

Miroku let out a soft sigh. "Yōkai."

Sango shook her head. "No, Miroku. DAI-Yōkai."

Miroku rummaged quickly through his bag and pulled out two mugs and poured something from his wine skin into it. They drank it down in one gulp and stared into the fire.

"Kamigami help us all."

* * *

As Rin ran out from Kaede's hut and danced with the nearby scarecrow as she waved to the retreating Lord Sesshōmaru, Inuyasha yelled back at him, "You think you can just visit whenever you want and insult my woman, you bastard?!"

Rin eyed Kikyō with a strange expression. "You're a miko?"

"Yes," Kikyō said, not bothering to elaborate.

"Why aren't you tending the shrines?" Rin asked.

"Mind your business," Kikyō said.

Rin frowned. "Aren't you supposed to bring the messages of the kamigami to the people?"

Kikyō gave her an unkind look. "I did that a long time ago."

"But not now."

Kikyō threw down her gardening hoe. "What do you want, girl?"

Rin stared at her. "Why don't you glow?"

Kikyō narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean?"

Rin shrugged, picking out a huge diakon for Kaede and hugging it to her chest. "Power glows. You don't glow anymore." The child shuffled off to Kaede's hut, saying nothing more.

Kikyō stood her in her way. "What did you mean, glow?"

Rin frowned again, puzzled. "Miko glow like Sesshōmaru-sama. Like Kagome-sama. But you— you do not."

Kikyō looked like she was going to ask her something else when Kaede came up and joisted Rin up. "Ahhh, look at that lovely diakon. Very nice, Rin!"

"Thank you, Kaede-obasan!" She hugged the older miko. "You glow too!"

"Do I?"

"Uh huh! You're purple like Kagome-sama used to be."

"Used to be?" Kaede said, puzzled.

Rin smiled, patting the radish with her hands. "Now it's black, like her fur, just like Sesshōmaru-sama's is white. Like his fur. Maybe she can call Sōryūha like Sesshōmaru-sama! That sword is gone now, though—" Rin perked up and smiled. "Maybe she'll find a new sword, right Kaede-obasan?"

Kaede put a hand on the child's head. "Anything is possible, child."

Rin grinned and let the older woman carry her into the house with the radish.

* * *

The great dragon rose before her, its coils sliding against each other as the head snarled at her. "This is my territory, and you will die."

Kagome felt her anger rise and take her speech with it. The struggle to form words was difficult. "This Kagome does not intend to die."

"You will die, regardless whelp," the dragon said. "You think a human form makes you powerful, but it just makes you weak, and all weak yōkai will be eaten." His yōki flared, beating into Kagome as she stood there. Her power rose slowly, lazily, as tendrils of black grew like fur around her body.

"You smell of dog," the serpent hissed. "I will devour you as my father once devoured your general."

He struck, and Kagome dodged, her body sliding against the ground as she dove under and over the coils. She attempted to avoid the smash of the tail, but it caught her, stunning her as the great jaws clamped around her and the serpent swallowed her whole.

The panther yōkai grew distressed as they watched their protector go down.

"Bow to me," the serpent dragon roared, saliva dripping from its jaws.

The panthers frowned, and the leader seemed to fight the fear to stand up straight. "We live and die for Kagome-sama," he said.

"So be it,"the dragon hissed, "die then."

His jaws opened to crash down upon the inferior yōkai just as he jerked back as his body thrashed. A dark purple-pink glow burst from the dragon's scales as a tear formed and the growing muzzle of a giant inu pushed out— fur and fang and snarl. Glowing red eyes blazed from the black inu's head as it-she— pulled herself out from the dragon's body, making the dragon's scales and skin explode.

The giant inu bayed, her teeth flashing as she clamped down on the dragon's head and crushed it between her fangs, shaking the body back and forth like a dog with a toy. The dragon's body smashed against ground and tree, and she dropped it, letting out a long howl to declare her victory.

Her lips pulled back from her teeth as she lowered her head to sniff the panther yōkai, who prostrated themselves at her head.

"Great and supreme Kagome-sama!" they cried. "Let us celebrate your victory over the great dragon son of Ryūkotsusei!"

Kagome's form shrank and reformed into her human shape. She gently placed one hand over the yōkai's head, acknowledging them. Her hand lowered. "This Kagome requires a bath," she said, walking towards the nearby river without another word.

* * *

Sesshōmaru had a problem. He heard the howl of the female— the bay of challenge, the howl of victory, but the direction it came in was the Valley of Ryūkotsusei.

The land of Ryūkotsusei— the valley of the once great dragon himself…

It was said that Ryūkotsusei had many sons, all eager to tear their way into infamy and take a bite out of any and all demons brave or stupid enough to enter the valley. After his father had fallen to the great dragon, it had been Inuyasha of all people to fell the dragon. Many of the dragon's sons still howled for blood of the family of Inu no Daiyōkai, for the greatest warcry of any family seemed to be blood for blood.

Sesshōmaru did not fear any dragon, but taking on an entire family of blood-hungry dragons would not help him find this mysterious female that had howled her victory across the valley so clear that it had carried to his ears in distant lands.

A decision had to be made.

Find the female or fight the dragons— and finding the female could require fighting the dragons. All of them would undoubtedly be drawn to the female's howl. If he approached the female in her battlelust, he could end up fighting her and the dragons, and his desires did not want the female to judge him unworthy for showing up at the wrong time, the wrong way, and with the wrong kind of interest.

No, Sesshōmaru did not want this female to view him as an interloper.

He would have to be cautious because this would not be a battle he could fight with a sword. If she was what he thought she was— she would have to be placated, impressed, and shown what a great provider he was.

He would have to be—

Sesshōmaru flinched.

He would have to be  _considerate_.

The entire process would most likely kill him. Never in his life had any female demon ever peaked his interest as more than a rutt. He had never cared enough for such things. Power and gaining it had been his only concern—

Sesshōmaru wanted no mate. Sesshōmaru needed no mate. Sesshōmaru did not desire a mate!

He flinched again.

Until now.

The Killing Perfection could not win this battle by being the most powerful warrior—

But it might get his paw in the door.

* * *

Shippō had tried to track the footprints of the owner of the strange footprints ever since he realised that they might know what happened to Kagome. It was a feeling that sat in his gut and moved into the tips of his tail.

The tracks were always surrounded in the prints of the panther yōkai— their scents so very distinct from others such as the wolf yōkai. The fact they had been in Kaede's village but not actually killed someone was a strange revelation. Panther demons had no love of humans, Shippō knew. Yet, apparently one had fixed up Kaede's hut for her… after attacking her and then apologising for it.

When did THAT ever happen?

Sometimes, Shippō forgot he was yōkai, and it wasn't hard to when everything was seemingly bigger and more powerful than you. Kagome's disappearance had more than rattled him, and he knew that Sango felt the same, though she hid it well. Miroku, too, seemed too distant— too serious, less lecherous— to be unaffected either.

Kikyō's reappearance had been shocking in itself. Her being alive— really alive— had been even more so. Shippō, however, didn't trust Kikyō. He never had. At least before he could blame it on her being undead— stealing the souls of the living to feed herself.

But what was she now?

Human? A complete soul?

Or was she the ultimate undead, having stolen the greatest soul of all to make herself human again. What price did such a thing demand?

Shippō knew he wasn't hundreds of years old with the kind of wisdom that adults of his kind had— he paled in comparison to the pranks his parents were capable of— but he knew he was not completely oblivious, either. Naraku had stolen his childhood as the Thunder Brothers had stolen his parents. Neither he would ever get back.

But Kagome—

She allowed him to feel like he could cry when he wanted to. She found no weakness in emotion. No fault in not holding a sword or killing mighty dragons with powerful attacks. She, herself, had a kind of strength he envied. Despite being told by so many that she was weak and needed protecting— she persisted.

Shippō respected her and loved her like a sister, and it was his duty to see if she had survived. If this strange being who walked with panther yōkai knew what had happened to Kagome, he needed to find out.

But how did he suspect that this mystery being knew?

Shippō's tail twitched. It was a feeling in his tail.

Somewhere in that scent was something or someone familiar. He had to find out what. If there was any chance Kagome was still alive and alone, he had to know. Maybe she had been forced to go home to the future, but he had to be sure.

He owed it to her. It had been him that had tried to press Kagome and Inuyasha together— and that was a mistake he didn't want to haunt him forever.

* * *

Sesshōmaru wasn't quite sure what he was looking at, if he was honest with himself. Bones rose around him like monoliths made of bone instead of stone. There wasn't one bit of flesh sticking to the bleached white skeleton. The gaping maw of a dragon lay frozen in place. The only indicator that this had recently been done were the scattered, shining scales— to brilliant to be old.

Some of the bones had marks upon them— where fangs had met bone and cracks had formed. Inu fangs. Yet, even as he examined them, he realised the placement was strange. Summoning his cloud, he rose above, staring.

The bones were arranged in a peace circle—

_I seek no fight, but I shall finish it._

Sesshōmaru hadn't seen one since the days of his father— back when the only ones that challenged the Inu no Taishō were the truly brave or the immeasurably stupid. Of all the yōkai of Japan, the dragons were the only ones that could ever challenge his father, and even then, it had been the father of them all that had finally taken his father out.

Still— this was no youngling dragon, not at all.

"Dog," a voice rumbled behind him.

Sesshōmaru turned slowly to see two dragons staring at him.

"How dare you enter our lands and attack our kind." One of them used its tail to smash the bones' arrangement, shattering the peace circle.

Sesshōmaru felt his sword in his hand before he had even realised he had pulled it out. He said nothing. Anger brewed under his stoic regard. He used the tip of his sword to carve the peace circle around himself, gritting his teeth in his effort to preserve the seal started by the inu yōkai that had come before him.

He would not allow himself to lose control. He was not a common inu yōkai.

The dragons smiled, arrogant and full of pride. They descended upon the Lord of the West, confident that while he may have taken out one of them, two would be a guaranteed win.

Sesshōmaru slid his leg back to brace himself as his yōki rose to his desires.

_Peace circle_

_Carved in Earth_

_Rise to the heavens_

_To proclaim our worth._

_Peace circle_

_Forged for peace_

_Preserve my power_

_And violence cease_

_I come not to fight_

_Or blood to spill,_

_But should you challenge me,_

_I surely will._

_Peace circle,_

_This I swear_

_Witness my promise,_

_So none may dare._

_Break the line,_

_And I will fight._

_Attack me here,_

_And know my might._

Sesshōmaru let out a baying howl as the dragons fell upon him, rows upon rows of flashing teeth bared to tear him asunder for the sins of their fathers.

* * *

Kagome climbed the crumbly stone path up the side of the mountain lead through the deep green of the forest. The mountain's mist rose off the canopy, giving the entire area an aura of mystery. The trees were tall and straight, speaking of fast growth to race to the top, but the tops were full and open like umbrellas. Giant roots clasped the stone and outcrops, anchoring the greatest trees to the less forgiving earth.

The path was seemingly carved in the stone of the mountain itself, but it had obviously fallen to disrepair. Had humans or any other visitors used the path, that time was long since passed. The arches she found were beautiful, but the vines had overgrown them. Whatever had once paid homage and pilgrimage to the lands of the dragons visited no longer. Corpses littered the mountain, and they were long dead. It was almost as if the dragons had turned on each other.

The panther's looked around with no small amount of wonder, their eyes wide and noses twitching as they took in the scent of the old dragons that still lingered. Some of them stayed close to her while others braved exploring, but when she saw the palace carved into the very side of the mountain, Kagome realised she had found the heart of Ryūkotsusei's territory— or what had been, when the great dragon had ruled it.

Yet no sound indicated that the old seat of power was still occupied. Carved stone walls in epic reliefs depicted great dragons fighting the sea and air for their home and the greatest dragon of all having used his claws to bring water to the land in the form of rivers.

Carefully crafted, even delicate, wood and papered walls lay within the stone walls, protected from the elements. All of it seemed frozen in time and left to the sands of memory. The halls were huge, fit for dragons, and the eternal fires still burned.

Yet nothing seemed to breath, and no animal breached the walls to attempt to make a nest in the ruins.

Treasure filled great and numerous rooms, filled with both coin, trinkets, and the skeletons of those who had come before only to find the place occupied. Kagome continued her walk, taking in so many forgotten murals— the history of the great dragons.

How had something so vast and great disappeared?

As she climbed her way to the top of the summit, more bodies peppered the ascent, some of them frozen in place by the cold— forever locked in their death throes. The further they travelled, the more bodies they found, and Kagome felt the first pangs of pity for the once proud dragons. The longer she climbed, the more she became convinced that the dragons had fought amongst themselves, annihilating each other for some yet known purpose or goal.

So why attack her?

Kagome frowned. Picking fights when you're the last of your kind didn't seem very practical. The dragon she had fought had said this was his territory… not our, but his.

Could they have really been so selfish to fight each other for a territory easily shared?

When she reached the summit, she saw the answer to her questions and more. Carved into the top of the mountain was a giant bowl alit in flames, but in it lay a clutch of shimmering eggs— waiting. Waiting for the winner to claim them: the next generation of loyal dragons to the victor.

A great dragon head rose behind the nesting bowl, and Kagome knew without even waiting that the dragon meant death to any and all that came— insanity flared in the dragon's eyes. She was the reason all the other dragons lay dead.

Age dripped from every scale— scratches, tarnish, and even lichen grew over the ancient scales. Her fangs were like swords, but her eyes were glazed with madness. She was a daiyoki who had devolved and gone feral— no more in control than Inuyasha without Tessaiga. This was the fate of any demon who succumbed to time without having a firm anchor of the self or lost their reason for living.

The eggs were the only connection to her old self, Kagome realised, even when all sanity had left the great wyrm. And if those eggs hatched, they would imprint on that insanity and become as twisted and destructive as their "mother." They would probably kill each other, knowing no sanity to tell friend or foe, and the end of the dragons would be sealed in genocide.

The eggs were rocking, so close to hatching. Tiny cracks were forming as the young struggled to break free of their shelled prisons.

Kagome's eyes flicked from the eggs to the great dragon, her old self screaming that this was a dragon. A DRAGON! She should be running! She should be calling for Inuyasha, Sango, Miroku, Kirara—

A flash of violet filled her blue eyes as she forced that instinctive dive into learned weakness away. She was not weak. She did not have to rely on anyone to fight anymore. The panthers were growling, caught between fear and eagerness to fight— the great dragon was even larger than the one she had slain earlier… and if she were to keep her edge, she had to remain in a the smaller, non-inu form. Her hands instinctively sought the familiar feel of arrow to bowstring. Her power traveled along the shaft of the arrow, covering its entire length in her distinctive yōki even as her "venom" dripped from her talons and traveled down the arrow to the arrow tip.

Her foot moved out and she swirled, using both the end of her bow and the tip of her toes to dig into the earth, forming a circle.

_Peace circle_

_Carved in Earth_

_Rise to the heavens_

_To proclaim our worth._

She bared her teeth, swinging her bow around her in an arch as her yōki rose. Black tendrils of her power whipped around her as her hair seemed to rise against gravity.

_Peace circle_

_Forged for peace_

_Preserve my power_

_And violence cease._

She thought of the baby dragons, the future of the dragon race, corrupted and mindless, dead one by one as they tore each other apart.

_I come not to fight_

_Or blood to spill,_

_But should you challenge me,_

_I surely will._

She thought of Inuyasha having stood up to the great dragon with Tessaiga, channeling his protective fury into Bakuryūha to bring Ryūkotsusei down.

_Peace circle,_

_This I swear_

_Witness my promise,_

_So none may dare._

She thought of the panthers who had devoted their lives to her service, making her responsible for their lives as well as hers. She thought of Kirara's gentle rub of possessive marking against her yōki and the contented flare as Kagome had succumbed to her own instincts to mark her right back. She thought of Sango and Miroku's stupid banter between flirting and violence. Shippō— the little kitsune, so much older than his appearance, but still young— too young for the burdens of adulthood.

_Break the line,_

_And I will fight._

_Attack me here,_

_And know my might._

She thought of Rin's carefree, genuine embrace— acceptance despite the change and her brilliant smile.

" _Kagome-sama!"_

It was more than a title. It was more than respect. In that one, small addition to her name, Rin and the panthers had acknowledged her power and give her responsibility of protection over them— responsibility she had taken by pressing her fangs to their necks.

She had more than someone to protect. She had some _ones._

She bared her fangs at the rising dragon in warning.

The dragon snarled, almost smashing the very eggs she was poised to protect. She flung herself into the air and smashed down where Kagome was, breaking the peace circle.

Kagome went flying backwards, her one leg jerked as she stopped her slide with her claws. She pulled her bow up and released her arrow, and it sang through the air and hit the dragon on the arm it protected its face with. The arm shuddered and immolated, pieces of flesh burnt so fast that the bones fell from the arm to the ground. The next arrow didn't hit, instead embedding into the ground where it had fallen.

The dragon snarled, and rose up, using its one good arm to swat at her. Kagome cried out as the claws raked her leg, not quite moving fast enough. Blood trickled down her skin, and her markings glowed even as she was thrown into the nest.

CRACK!

She was covered in egg-goo and a small, seemingly delicate little dragon splat against her body, thick strands of birthing fluid dripping from it's wet, blue baby fur and pristine opal scales.

" _Hahaue_?" the baby dragon looked up at her with adoration, eyes locked to hers. It clung to her chest, waiting, needing a response.

 _In the middle of battle. No pressure, Kagome_.

She bared her teeth and pressed her fangs to the dragon's neck, even as her yōki flared, even as her pain in her leg flared— even as she dodged the ancient dragon's next attack of fire and electricity mixed together in a painful combination.

_Warui. Warui!_

Kagome knew her choices were limited, and now she had a baby dragon who begged her protection— protection as a mother.

Kagome bared her teeth, ignoring the pain in her leg. She notched an arrow, grasping the point with her hand as she wrapped her talons around it, feeding the point with her yōki— her most delicate poison.

In her mind she played out a hundred scenarios, all ending with those she protected dead.

Despair.

Failure.

Agony of defeat.

Inuyasha? The face of the half-demon and his soft white ears came to mind, and she snarled.

NO!

She would not bow to her younger, weaker self who accepted she was too weak because Inuyasha kept reminding her she was too slow, too weak to fight, too dumb to realise when something wanted her dead.

She snarled, a slight purple glow changing her blue eyes to a mixture. Her bow string pulled back, and she released just as the dragon's mouth forced her to move or be sliced in half. The first dragon had been "kind" enough to swallow her whole, but this one was not so inspired. It wanted to tear her to pieces, and it wanted to right there and now.

The dragonling clung to her, whimpering, her baby yōki infesting itself into her own much like Kirara had done— the need to both submit and be protected and cared for fused into a need to for her to be that protector.

Crack. CRACK!

Another egg hatched, but this one looked up to the giant dragon and found only insanity. It's small eyes whirled as blackness closed in and insanity followed. It attacked its nearby nestmate while still in the egg, the screams of the infant dragon that hadn't even been fully born chilling Kagome to the bone.

SNAP!

The great dragon's teeth snapped around both attacker and attacked, and two baby dragons felt their "mother's" mouth crush them and shake their bodies violently before tossing them aside— undesired, unmourned.

Kagome felt the baby dragon's distress as its clutchmates died— the bond between the comrades of the egg broken twice in less than a few minutes, once by the baby dragon attacking the other, and once by the mother dragon whose insanity outweighed any maternal instincts.

"I am Koba. Koba. KobaKobaKoba!" the little dragon repeated, a mantra against the violence and a plea for protection.

_Dragons of fire_

_Dragons of air_

_Hear my plea_

_If you're there._

_Dragons of earth,_

_Dragons of water._

_Soothe this child,_

_My scaled dragon daughter._

Where had such words come from? Yet… there it was, coming to her mind as her mind and heart sang to fight for the scaley interloper that had woven herself around her heart in less than a few minutes.

Kagome saw the shattered remains of her bow crushed between the dragon's teeth— and she felt a twitch of understanding for when Inuyasha had lost Tessaiga, even for a moment. She dodged the slash of the dragon's swat, wincing as she slammed into the trunk of a tree. She wanted to pry the dragonling off her chest so she could move, but Koba refused, clinging to her chest like a reverse backpack.

The huge dragon swat again using her tail to shatter the trunks of the trees in her ire, sending Kagome flying again. The dragon rose above, taking flight, and then she was diving— diving down to both breath her fire upon Kagome and the nest.

She no longer cared about the hatching eggs. She no longer cared about herself. She was lost in her rage.

The frightened eggs screamed, sensing their imminent doom, their tiny cries drowned by the roar of the dragon above as the heat in her body built to blast outward to char any and all things in its path.

Kagome didn't think.

She reached for the arrow that wasn't there, pulling on the bow string that should have been there— using the bow that had been in pieces without thinking to notice there shouldn't have been anything to hold. Her talons touched string, notching the arrow crafted in her yōki, and the bow had seemingly come from her own body responded, flexed, and sent the arrow flying towards its mark.

It pierced the dragon's mouth, lodging into the inner throat and causing a gush of blood to douse the fires. The dragon shook its shead violently, bellowing, its body convulsing ever closer to the eggs.

Kagome was in the air, sailing towards the dragon's head. Her hand wrapped around the cast aside arrow from their earlier fight. Her poison covered the entire length in less than a second, and she thrust the arrow under the dragon's chin— up, up, up!

SSCcccccRRRrkkkkKKK!

Deep into the dragon's brain.

The great dragon roared, blood spewing from its mouth and its wounds as her massive body thrashed on the ground. Some of the eggs went tumbling out of the nest, barely avoiding a crash to the rocks of the mountain's steep side. Kagome jumped in that direction, sliding against the ground as her claws stopped her skid as she grabbed the egg in the most danger and stopped it from falling to its doom. She staggered, half limping as she gathered the eggs and put them back into the bowl with a weary huff. She eyed the strange bow in her hands, seemingly carved in obsidian, yet it was flexible. As her talons moved to where the string was, yōki sang and formed into a bowstring.

What was this bow?

When her hands left the bow, it faded from sight as if it had never been there.

_What the…_

Crack.

Crackle.

Pop!

The eggs rocked and tilted violently, cracking and bursting outward as the newest baby dragon sprawled over the side of the nesting bowl, body damp with egg fluid. Bright orange eyes met hers.

"Hahaue!" The baby dragon cried, unfurling to lick the bottom of her chin in supplication.

Crack. Crackle. CCKKKRRRLK!

More eggs shattered, spilling their waiting contents out. Baby serpent tongues licked at Kagome's chin, their bodies wriggling and rubbing against her like a pup to its bitch or its pack.

Kagome shuddered, overcome with intense instinct. Her teeth bared, she pressed her fangs to the little dragons' throats. The little dragons' shuddered as its yōki flared and merged with hers, adding itself to her pack.

Within a few minutes, Kagome was covered in dragon hatchlings, all of them curled around her like she was their entire world, their baby fluff drying down their backs as their scales shimmered in the sun.

"Mum mum mum mum mum mum mum!" they all chimed together.

Kagome loosed a howl, and with it the combined yōki of all those she protected sang in her voice, resonating in her yōki. The dragonlings gave their tiny roars to the mix as the panthers added their own distinctively feline roars.

The great Ryūkotsusei was dead. His empire had fallen.

The fires that marked the great territory of the east flared to life once more as the claiming magic restored the East to its former glory. Vines peeled away from the stone. The great stone stairs pulled back together— all of it happened at once as a wave of their combined yōki blew outward, marking the East as a home for the living one more.

Long live the bitch queen, protector of the panthers, mother of dragons.

* * *

"What the hell was that?" Inuyasha said as he jumped up onto a tree branch and sniffed.

"What was what?" Kikyō asked, frowning.

"I felt something. Yōki, but— different."

Kikyō shook her head. "I felt nothing."

Inuyasha frowned. Unsure what that meant. She was a priestess, after all. Of all people who would recognize a flare of demon power, it would be a Miko, yes?

Then again, he thought, maybe it wasn't yōki. It felt different, almost like a mixture of power.

He sighed. It was hard to enjoy the "gift" of Kikyo's presence when she was so cold to everyone—even him, if he was truly honest about it. But… she'd had always been alone and aloof… and just when she'd started to be less so, Naraku had made sure they would blame each other for the attacks against the other.

But his wish…

Kikyō was his true love. He had thought his wish would have proven once and for all who his true love was… even to him. He'd even thought maybe it would fuse them together and combine the things he loved about them both. They had shared the same soul, after all. It made sense. Why did no one else get that?

Still— the flare of yōki was disturbing. What could cause such a thing? As much as he hated to even think it, his brother would probably know and rub it in his face.

Inuyasha growled. He did not want to be beholden to his brother for anything, knowledge or otherwise. All his brother cared about was power. Who cared if he took care of that little orphan waif. That was a fluke, and when his brother tired of her, it would be the end of the girl. It was probably already happening. His brother dumped Rin with Kaede like she was yesterday's waste, anyway.

Rin ran out from Kaede's house and jumped onto the repaired fence. Her body was as tense as a spring and she looked out over the valley.

"Barrroooo!" she howled, her body trembling. She cocked her head, listening.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing, brat?"

"I'm listening for the Lady of the East!" Rin said with a smile. "And Sesshōmaru-sama!"

"Yeah, but why are you howling?!"

"So they know I'm here," Rin said, cocking her head at him. The "obviously" went unsaid, but it ruffled Inuyasha's fur.

Inuyasha shook his head. "There is no woman of the east," he said, correcting her.

Rin looked at him funny. "There is now. And she's a  _Lady_." Rin looked at him like he was an idiot, and then she burst into a brilliant smile and howled again.

Rin bounced around the field, arms outstretched like wings. Kaede caught her up and Rin giggled and hugged her. "Kaede-bachan, do you think Sesshōmaru-sama will take me to visit the Lady of the East?"

Kaede tilted her head. "Whatever do ye mean, child?"

Rin smiled. "You know, to visit!"

"Why would he do that, Rin?"

"She protects Rin!" Rin said without hesitation. "She likes Rin's flowers even when Jaken doesn't."

"What are you doing consorting with demons, brat?" Inuyasha said, landing next to them with a scowl on his face.

Rin wrinkled her nose. "I'm too young to be a consort," she said, hopping down and skipping off into the garden."

Kaede glowered at Inuyasha.

"What, old woman?"

The old miko shook her head and walked away, saying nothing.

* * *

Sesshōmaru worked his way up to the top of the mountain summit, carrying the carcass of a great elk over his shoulder. The scent of what had drawn him across Japan was close, and he was not going to show up empty handed. The carcassing of many wyrms made him curious. The blast of claiming magic that marked out territory made him even more determined to ascend the mountain.

The battle with the two dragons had lead into many more, almost as if the dragons had no care but to battle each other as much as him. He wondered if the entire dragon race had gone insane with the death of their leader, when even before he had been in stasis but not dead. If that were true, had the entire Eastern Lands been falling into ruin as the dragons battled each other?

As he reached the summit, he met the corpse of a great female wyrm, jaws open wide in death as blood and saliva dripped from the fangs. He could walk through the jaws and emerge from the hole on the other side where a giant blast had taken out the back of the head. He walked further past so many bent and broken coils of the once massive dragon.

A great nesting bowl lay beyond, and the moment he passed the carcass of the wyrm, panther demons rose from the edge of the bowl on high alert, but they didn't attack.

Curious.

That's when he saw it. There, scraped around the nesting bowl was the circle of peace. This was the one he had been searching for.

A tiny set of orange eyes peered over the nesting bowl.

What?

The little dragon's nose wiggled as it smelled the dead elk.

There was a loud exhale as a great Inu head rose from the nesting bowl, baby dragons cuddled up between her ears and down her back. She was as black as the midnight sky with traces of deep blue. Her eyes were blue inside the red sclera, and she watched him carefully.

Baby wyrms climbed over her to peer at him, waiting for instruction on what to do and how to respond.

Sesshōmaru had come too far to screw up in social graces after all the fighting he had survived to get to this point, and he hoisted the elk down in front of him. He silently used his toe talon to draw the peace circle as he very carefully bowed his head, keeping eye contact with the female inu.

He leaned down and used one talon to rip the elk from neck to rear, his hand seeking the one offering that would make his intent clear. He pulled the heart free from the ribs and held it out, silent.

The female inu walked over the edge of the nesting bowl, nudging the wyrmlings to stay there as she approached him— towering over him in her true form. She folded in on herself, transforming into her more human form, her dark hair and mokomoko trailing behind her.

His eyes widened as he recognised her face.

Inuyasha's woman.

Inuyasha's woman was human!

His lip curled in disgust, and he realised he'd made a mistake. The moment he had let his emotion move his expression, the female had sensed his change in demeanor. She let out a low, rumbling growl and backed up to stand in the peace circle and away from him. Her markings glowed as her nostrils flared.

She was scenting him— and he had unwisely filled his scent with disgust.

Cursing at himself, he felt himself the pup still wet about the ears. There had been no human scent that brought him here, and even if it had been present, he had followed the trail of respect and attention to tradition that had sorely been lacking in yōkai of late.

And what had he done?

He had thrown all that to the winds and insulted her without words, letting his actions prove his disgust. He realised there was only one thing he could do to save face.

He whined, tilting his head to the side as he bowed, admitted fault.

He could feel her surprise even as he smelled the shift in her demeanor.

She was close now. So close. He could smell the scent of blackberries and moonflowers mixed with the distinctive musk of the female inu. She suspected him of ill intent, and he couldn't blame her. He had let his ingrained response regarding humans to cloud his judgement.

She sniffed his neck, her nose brushing against his skin just enough to send a shiver down his spine with anticipation— but as for what, he couldn't say. She could, he knew, attempt to tear out his throat for the insult. He might even survive it to wear the scar— but she could also…

Her teeth gripped his skin in a fold, her fangs gently pressed to his skin. Her warm breath sending strange electric pulses down his spine. She released him, his apology accepted.

In that moment, he had never felt so shamed and so glad of it at the same time.

He extended the heart again, this time focusing on the respect she had given, knowing that even if she had been human, he would have found such actions appealing. It would have made her respectable.

Her smaller hands brushed against his, slowly taking the heart from his hands.

But what would she do with it?

To devour it all would mean she accepted him as a guest. To cast it away would mean she did not trust his gift. But if she believed him worthy of courtship—

She bit into the heart, her fangs tearing the flesh into a bite sized piece and swallowing, her tongue darting out to clean her lips and mouth. He watched her, fascinated as just the movement of her tongue across her fangs pushed buttons he hadn't realised he had.

She tore off another piece and chewed slightly, then—

She slowly leaned in, holding the piece between her teeth as she pressed it to his mouth.

He took the piece and swallowed immediately, his tongue darting out to lick the blood from her lips. Her yōki rose immediately, and his followed suit. She lifted the heart between them, and the shared it together, taking their time to not gobble it down in haste. He groomed her face, cleaning her as she cleaned him, and then she let out a low croon.

The dragonlings clambered over the nest to get to her— excited and eager. She used her claws to slice the elk, feeding each dragonling at least once and then bade them step back. She cut more, but this time, each of the panthers got a piece of the kill. Once every one of them had had a share, she left the carcass and made a low chirping growl, and the dragonlings descended upon the remains to fight over the food in an very chaotic mess of claws and teeth while the panthers fought to keep all of the food from going down one or two main gullets so all of the dragonlings had a share. She left the dragonlings with the panthers, confident that they would watch over them and protect them— or die trying.

She walked away from him, her warmth tantalizing in itself. He followed like a moth to flame. Had he been in his true form, surely his tail would have been wagging. She stopped at a hotspring, carved into the mountainside. The heat from the hotspring encouraged lush plants to grow around it. Multiple pools sat in layers, the higher pools feeding the lowers, but all of them were fed from hidden sources from above. Long ago, he imagined, the great dragons had carved it out so they could bathe and soak on even the coldest mountain nights.

She disappeared under one waterfall, and then appeared again, slipping into the soaking pool.

He followed, finding a brilliantly designed washing area where the soap and rinse water was routed into different places through the very mountain rock. He slowly unwrapped himself from his armor and clothes, using the sponge to wash the grime of many battles and make himself fit to share a hotspring.

He slipped into the heated pool beyond, relishing in the heat of the water. He moved in behind her, gently pressing his nose to her hair, sniffing her as he showed her the ornate comb he had liberated from the other area. He gently untangled her hair and combed it, using the tines to massage her scalp. He said nothing, but he did not need to. Close contact was reserved for mates— with courtship being the only exception. They had already shared a heart— the pact was made. She would evaluate his prowess and tolerate his company until a decision was made: to keep him or deny him the bond his body— his very soul— would crave.

Female inu were picky and fickle.

Male inu… they tended to be a bit focused. It really wasn't so hard to see why a human female would think all that attention was alluring compared to the typical human male.

To turn the inu female's interest into permanent desire over casual interest, he would have to be determined or very, very lucky. It helped if the female was in heat— not that Sesshōmaru was not up for the challenge. He was not the kind of demon to give up when he wanted something.

Every so often he would press his nose into her hair as he combed, imprinting her scent into his memory just as it was. She had that light scent of blackberries and moonflowers, the same as when she had been human, but it mixed with the musk of the female inu. He knew every time he scented her, he was damning himself, focusing his obsession to tune into her and her alone.

Oh how many yōkai females had tried to bed him in the hopes of turning his obsession to them— but none of them had offered more than a scratch to an itch. They had all been disappointed.

So, how had his father's gaze been turned? That was a mystery he had yet to solve. Inu males were not usually ones to stray, so why had his father? Had the rumours been true that he had married Inukimi as a formal arranged marriage and not of any sort of bond?

Even now, he felt his mind and body tuning in to the movements and heartbeat of this one female, and should he by chance sleep with her in his arms, he would be undone, hoping, praying, begging for his desired mate to accept him and allow him to seal the bond between them. And there lay the reason why he had never risked emotion. At no time in an inu yōkai male's life were they as vulnerable as when they were courting a female— and they remained so until the bond was consummated and his mark emblazoned his mate's— and hers upon his, heart.

Or she rejected him, forever sealing herself away from his yōki, his heat, and his passion— freeing him from the madness of love only to deliver him into the madness of having been denied by the one they had wanted above all others.

Epic tales were sung of such tragedies—

Sesshōmaru hesitated, realising that Izayoi had not borne his father's mating mark— and nor had his mother. He had mated both Inukimi and Izayoi, but neither of them had given them the completion of the bond— they had left him hanging in the deep, deep longing, vulnerable, and distracted.

The great inu no taishō had died of a broken heart— Inukimi too cold to embrace the great dog's heat and Izayoi too human to realise what Tōga both wanted and needed from her. The terrible truth was that his father had died protecting the mate that had been too fragile, too fearful, or perhaps too ignorant of what she had done by allowing his father to embrace her and give her a pup but not allow him to Mark her as his.

The inu way…

If she had— his father would have remained strong against Ryūkotsusei, and she would not died fearful and weak while failing to teach his half-yōkai brother what it meant to be the son of the Inu no Taishō. She would have been treasured as his father's true mate, and perhaps Sesshōmaru would have learned earlier what the victory of such surrender could be.

His arms were around her, pulling her closer to him. She murmured softly, allowing his touch despite her confusion. He could sense her wariness, but also her confusion at her own attraction. He guided her hands to his face, encouraging her to explore him.

She traced his facial markings, the tapered tips of her claws tracing the lines with reverence. His eyes closed as she touched his markings, a shiver of pleasure at her touch damning him all the more into her service. He leaned over her, his arms dangling at his side, waiting for some signal from her that she was ready not only to explore him but to allow him to explore her.

It took all of his control not to spook her by indulging his need before she was ready.

Slowly, she rubbed his cheek with hers, the soft tickle of her breath against his skin, his ear, his hair. Her fingers pressed against his chest as she placed her ear against his heart and listened. Her yōki spiked, and the sensation of it tore through him, making his knees buckle slightly. He panted softly, struggling to remain still.

She entwined her fingers with his, exploring the feel of his touch against hers. She looked into his eyes, her blue gaze looking deep into his.

Then, very deliberately, she tenderly licked under his chin, at last inviting him to join with her.

His arms wrapped around her as a low growl escaped his throat. He ran his hands over every bit of her as his cheek pressed against hers. She whimpered slightly as he clasped the skin of her neck with his teeth, just enough to promise but not take. He breathed heavily against her ear as his tongue flicked against it, and she bucked into him with a sudden, forcible groan.

He marvelled at how her body seemed to fit against his, how every touch of her skin practically shoved him into madness. He pressed his lips to her wrist, watching her face as he tenderly licked the skin there. Her eyes fluttered, rolling back, and he smiled, celebrating her enjoyment of his affection. He lay her back against the soft moss that had grown around the spring, gazing down at her filled with a need he had not once had previous.

Perhaps, he thought, this was why they took human forms— to give their mates such pleasure rather than the inu's quick mounting and rather embarrassing tie. He had to admit that the feel of her against him was more than enough to prove it to him.

Then again, as he lowered his head to touch noses, perhaps more testing was required.

The look on her face—

Oh, that look.

Such wonder.

He lowered his mouth to her breasts and gave one an experimental lick, and was rewarded by the gasp that sent shivers down his spine. Her body softened under him, legs inviting his touch as her pants became heated. He smiled wickedly, perhaps even smug, as his hand drifted lower down her body and between her legs, exploring her readiness— wary for any twitch or growl that she was not ready for that last, consuming need.

But it never came, or rather, the growl that came from her throat was not the one that said "get the hell off me" or the hard to misinterpret fangs to the face.

She moved against his hand with eager growls, and her legs parted in invitation. His teeth pressed against her neck as he thrust and was engulfed by her fire. He lost himself in the feel of her, hearing the low groaning bay and realising it was himself. He felt her tightening around him, and it drove him harder towards that bright, needy completion. She joined him, learning the feel of him, the angle, the rhythm—

As that brightness consumed them, their yōki flared together, rising like the meeting seas. She was convulsing under him, but her claws raked down his back, echoing his markings, and her teeth buried into his neck.

AHHH!

The ecstasy of her bite caused him to lose himself inside her completely, the flood of his passion echoed in lower, more primal things. His fangs bared, and he found the junction of her throat, driven and needing that last most important connection.

She tilted her head to the side, welcoming his fangs.

Their yōki merged completely as they howled together, the nova of their union blasting outward in a flood of of their pleasure.

Hours later, as the sun rose over the summit, the snow white inu and the black as night inu lay together in the nesting bowl, surrounded by sleeping dragonlings, a pard of panther yōkai, and one very sneaky and smug looking Kirara nestled between the black inu's ears.

Sesshōmaru smiled smugly to himself as he snuggled closer to his mate and felt her lick his muzzle before settling in to sleep.

Fastest mate bonding consummation ever. As it should be for the new Lord and Lady of the East and West.

Had anyone dared to look, they'd have seen Sesshōmaru's tail beating a tattoo against the ground.

* * *

_End of Chapter 1_

* * *

**A/N:** *eyedarts* So much for taking their time! *cough* I blame Kirara. Totally her fault. YUP! Always blame the neko yōkai.

Reviews prevent me from writing the next chapter as a dream poor Sesshōmaru wakes up from and pines himself to death. Don't let the poor guy pine to death!


	2. A Drop In History

**A/N:** One of my favourite scenes is from episode 162 where Jaken has been roaming the entire episode calling for Sesshōmaru and Rin after she was kidnapped. Finally, Rin and Sesshōmaru are reunited and they find Jaken, and all Sesshōmaru says is “A-Un wa doushita?” (What happened to A-Un?) and Jaken is like “I will get him immediately! AHH!” *scramble* He flies back on A-Un and falls off, grovelling, saying, “A-Un de gozaimasu” (I present to you, A-Un.) It’s just not the same in English. The Japanese is best. (And Sesshōmaru-sama’s voice in Japanese is purrable, of course. English cannot compare. I’m going to crawl into my hole now and giggle hysterically.

**A/N 2:** As to the reviewer guest who thinks my story “plot device” is inane and that dogs do not bite each other while mating, I’m not forcing you to read my stories, feel free to write your own and cater to those that feel as you do. Considering I happen to know quite a few HUMANS who like a good neck chomp, who is to say that yōkai can’t desire that as well. I write for my own amusement, and I share stories to bring entertainment to others, but I am not so blind as to think that everyone has to like what I write for me to have succeeded in a story. While I am sorry you did not enjoy it, I encourage you to find some other story somewhere that you can like enough to use your real username to comment rather than hide behind a guest review.

**A/N 3:** It’s finals week, and the last few weeks have been hell getting up to it. I had an exam on Monday that was make or break it for me— everything hinged on it… and I made myself sick (literally) due to the stress. Throwing up, GI upset, the whole nine yards. Anyway, that is why this installment is delayed. I present to you now, If Wishes Were Inu Chapter 2.

  


**Beta Love:** Hollowg1rl (Yay! I'm not completely unsupervised… She also adds that neck bites are super hot and deserve more love and attention in stories)  &  The Dragon and the Rose (the wrangler of my grammar, even when I don’t wanna!)

* * *

  


**If Wishes Were Inu**

Chapter 2

 

_A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting_

_on its shoes._

Charles Spurgeon

 

Kagome opened one eye to find Kirara curled up on the bridge of her muzzle.

“Mew,” she said, stretching like the typical feline and proving that felines both yōkai and not were truly liquids and capable of fitting into any shape they so desired.

Kagome tried to move, but her body ached a little, and she began to blush as she recalled the previous night’s activities.

What would her mother say?

Oh hell, what would SOUTA say?!

The black inu thunked her head to the ground. Not that she’d be able to go back looking like— er, not exactly human. Even if the Bone-Eater Well _did_ let her in, what if it didn’t let her back out? Yōkai trapped in the wrong time with the other half of your conjoined soul murdering everyone to try to get back to his mate…

Hrm… probably not a good way to go.

As much as she loved her family and knew they loved her in return, showing up looking very un-Kagome and with Sesshōmaru-sama would probably go over about like how it had gone over with Kaede.

And what if the well didn’t let her come back? What of Sesshōmaru, the panthers, and the dragonlings? All—

She counted fuzzy backs… ni.. Ju.. roku… hatchi…

Oh, hell. There were a lot of baby dragons that were not going to understand why their mum ran off and left them.

“Mew!”

Okay, and Kirara too.

“Me-ew!” Kirara agreed.

**_THUMP._ **

Sesshōmaru dropped an even bigger “something” near the nest, and this time the dragonlings lined up almost instantly, intently watching him as he carved pieces off for each of them, watched them eat it, distributed to the panthers, and then let them free-for-all exactly as nature had intended.

She eyed the carcass hungrily, feeling her stomach growl.

Her mate growled at her as he dangled a heart between his teeth.

Well, wasn’t _that_ just sexy.

Kagome’s tail was beating on the ground, and she licked his jaw in supplication, shamelessly begging for breakfast.

She could swear he was chuckling as he shared the heart with her as well as the prized liver.

What a lovely, wonderful, skillful mate.

Her tail wagged even harder.

He licked the blood off her muzzle as she did the same for him, and he lay beside her, giving a content whuff as he did so.

Kirara was chewing on a large rib, busily tearing the flesh off the bone with her smaller feline teeth. She seemed both content and happy to be serving no greater purpose than being around and being able to choose what she wished to do. Kagome would never call Kirara uncaring, however. If anything, she thought the little neko-yōkai deserved a vacation after all she’d done.

Now that her restlessness had been “cured” by a certain white inu that did not have the name Inuyasha, her mind was starting to think in more complex ways again. She was starting to remember more of the Kagome before her, but it was an odd distortion, almost as if the there was a barrier blocking the two from ever truly reconciling. She missed certain things, such as her home in the future, but she also realised she would never abandon the things she protected for one chance at jumping through time— not if she couldn’t guarantee their safety if she should be trapped and unable to come back.

Kagome nuzzled her mate, pressing her muzzle to his neck to beg his indulgence. The great white inu licked her ear in answer. The remains of her old self tried to remind her that Sesshōmaru was the one that had tried to kill her. She told that voice that the circumstances were a little different. If she was capable of such a strange and alien change, then surely Sesshōmaru was also capable of change? Hadn’t he proven that by providing for her and her dragonlings as well as the panthers? Hadn’t his courtship— as intense and fast as it had been— proven that he was more than just a scary yōkai with even scarier power?

_But, but, he’s a yōkai_! Her inner voice whinged.

_I’m a yōkai,_ she admonished that voice.

_But—!_

_Be quie_ t, she growled at the annoying inner voice. _This Kagome has made her choice in mate, or she would never have allowed him to claim her._

Kagome leaned into Sesshōmaru and yawn-whined, shaking herself from head to tail before taking on her humanoid form. He was beside her in a flash, his arms gathering her up as he pressed his face into her hair and then down to her neck. His teeth pressed into the mark, where the bite of his teeth had injected his yōki and formed his crescent mark upon her skin, just as her spiral marked his neck.

Kagome felt her body heat up the moment he did so, and a soft whine came from her throat.

Her looked at her silently, fully aware of what his touch did to her even as she struggled with the knowledge of what her touch— her very scent— did to him. While intimacy as an Inu wasn’t barren of affection, the humanoid form offered certain pleasurable extended benefits that she was beginning to appreciate.

She touched his cheek and wriggled out of his embrace, knowing if she stayed too long, they would probably engage in quite a bit of heavy petting and coupling right in front of the dragonlings and panther yōkai. She had a feeling Sesshōmaru didn’t care, but part of her wasn’t _quite_ ready to throw all her modesty into the wind… yet.

If he kept looking at her like that, her resolve was going to fail her.

Gods, he was beautiful. So strong and elegant— _ah!_

He tilted his head to the side, exposing her mark— the invitation was clear. His scent was so alluring.

_GAH!_

She was there, her mouth pressed to the mark as her body craved his touch, and he obliged her with a silent, smug smile.

Arrogant jerk— oh, please for the love of— don’t stop. _Don’t stop!_

She gave a low moan as he gripped her skin between his fangs. She had to have him. Right now. Right in front of the gods and everyone. Yes, please. Thank you.

She growled, pulling him down on top of her as she rolled into the moss.

The panther yōkai covered the dragonets’ eyes with their hands and distracted them again with the only thing that dragonets would choose over curiosity: food.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

After leaving the panthers with the dragonlings, safely tucked away in the mountain palace, Kagome finally managed to pry the lamprey that was her mate off her neck and forced her new libido to heel. It was time to travel, and nothing impeded travel like the need to—

_Get it together, Kagome!_

She stifled her rather annoying neediness, trying to focus on what had to be done.

Sesshōmaru distracted himself by teaching her how to fly, knowing that if he held her as he flew that they would not get very far at all. She was wobbly at first, concentration or the lack thereof causing her to tumble a few times. He was always there to catch her, but his very touch was super-effective at being distracting.

By the time they landed by the bone-eater’s well, Kagome had exchanged obsession with her mate with nervousness.

“This is it,” Kagome said quietly. Her hand touched the side of the well. “This is where **_I_ ** came from.”

Sesshōmaru narrowed his eyes, sniffing at the well. “The bones of dead yōkai rest in this well.”

“That too,” Kagome said. “When you first met me, I had just fallen through this well— it brought me here from the future because I was connected to this time due to the Shikon no Tama. Then, after Mistress Centipede pulled it out of me, another demon flew away with it only to—”

She sighed. “I really screwed up. I tried to help, and my arrow hit the jewel and not the demon. It shattered.”

“And my brother wanted it to wish himself a full demon,” Sesshōmaru said, his face sombre.

Kagome struggled with words for a bit, feeling intense emotion that messed with her speech. “This Kagome— felt guilty. Wanted. Make things right.”

Sesshōmaru, feeling her struggle and understanding it, touched her cheek with his palm.

She stared up into his golden eyes and smiled. “Was young. Foolish. This Kagome thought it was love.”

Sesshōmaru looked at the well and sighed. “This Sesshōmaru thought hate was all he could feel for humans. Hated brother for his loyal pack that he did not deserve. Hated humans for following him. Hated father for giving brother Tessaiga instead of this Sesshōmaru. Only now—hn. This Sesshōmaru sees the truth.”

“We’re a pair, aren’t we?” Kagome said, feeling her emotions for the past get overrun by her affection for her mate.

“Does it still work?” Sesshōmaru asked.

Kagome looked within. “I do not know, and— it doesn’t matter,” she said fluidly, a touch of her old conviction and sense of self peeking through. “Sesshōmaru-sama is my future now. Pack. Family.”

His talons gently traced her facial markings as his real concern was placated.

“You don’t have to worry, Sesshōmaru,” she said quietly, savouring the intimacy of his name without the title. She saw his surprise and felt the heat in his body rise with the familiar use of his name. “I would not leave you willingly.” It was easier to think when he was near. She felt comfortable, accepted. The struggle to speak was lessened; the struggle to refer to herself without third person was also lessened.

“I just had to show you,” she said. “So you know… what I came from.”

He pressed his forehead to hers, their markings touching. “This Sesshōmaru accepts you as you are. As you were— but also what you _will_ be, together with this Sesshōmaru.”

Kagome beamed, pressing her mouth to his chin and giving it a tender lick of affection.

He spread his fingers across one side of her face, his expression stoic, but his yōki trailed across his fingers and against her skin. He bared his fangs slightly, savouring the feel of her against him.

She slid her mouth over his neck and tenderly licked his mark, and he almost crushed her to him with a low growl of possessive heat.

“Sesshōmaru-sama,” Kagome breathed, trembling.

“This Sesshōmaru finds your saying his name… pleasing.” He nuzzled behind her ear, allowing his breath to tickle her skin.

Kagome let out a soft whine of pleasure.

“However, the other sounds are… equally pleasurable.”

Suddenly Sesshōmaru spun and his claws glowed green as he sliced through the air with his claws, a snarl on his face.

There was a terrified **_POP_ ** as Shippō squealed in mid air, running in place but going nowhere as Sesshōmaru’s claws slammed him into the trunk of the tree by his neck.

The little fox demon squirmed in terror, his eyes bugging out.

“You _dare_ spy on this Sesshōmaru?”

Shippō made choking sounds as the tree behind him gave way in an almost theatrical flare and crashed into the ground. But it was only when this happened that Shippō make the worst possible mistake he could by attempting to use his yōki to escape.

That little spike of yōki caused Sesshōmaru’s to flare, wisps of his power whipping around him.

Suddenly Kagome rubbed up against her mate, her stealthy tongue licking the bottom of his jaw, as her mokomoko entwined with his. She whined suggestively, and Sesshōmaru’s eyes widened as his nostrils flared. His eyes went from Shippō to his mate, and his instinct picked his mate. He released the fox kit and took her neck between his fangs, grasping the fold of skin to reinforce their bond and make sure the “interloper” knew who was whose mate.

Kagome’s eyes fluttered, rolling back as her mate lowered her to the ground and growled deeply.

“Onee-sama?” Shippō whispered, his voice trembling.

Sanity seemed to trickle back into Sesshōmaru’s instinctive surge even as Kagome seemed to be losing her battle against her mate’s seductive presence. He seemed to realise that she had brought him back from murderous rage for a reason, and he slowly pulled himself up as he gathered his control.

Kagome leaned into him, pressing her hand into his, allowing his talons to curl around her hand and reassure himself that she was not going anywhere. His golden eyes stared into Shippō, and the little fox yōkai trembled.

“Kagome-oneesama,” Shippō said, wanting to grovel due to Sesshōmaru’s presence but unsure how.

“Mew!” Kirara said, rubbing up against Shippō’s legs. She then trotted over and rubbed up against Kagome and then Sesshōmaru. She walked back over to Shippō and rubbed up against him again, infesting his yōki with hers.

_Sneaky cat,_ Kagome said to herself. _She’s already pack, and she’s laying claim on Shippō so Sesshōmaru doesn’t have to murder him just for breathing._

“Mew!” Kirara meowed, smacking Shippō with her two tails so he got a face full of cat tails. She then bounced over to Sesshōmaru and bumped under his hand to get him to pet her, thus getting Shippō’s scent to the inu daiyōkai.

Carefully, Kagome moved slowly, pressing against her mate to let him know she wasn’t trying to escape him. She stood, pulling him up to his feet. He had always been tall to her— towering over both her and his brother. Rin and Jaken seemed like tiny dots in comparison. But now, she fit just under his chin, and her arms wrapped around his waist— provided she wasn’t being prevented by his armor.

She extended her arm to Shippō, struggling to force his name from her lips in unfamiliar company. It wasn’t that she didn’t _know_ Shippō, but he hadn’t proclaimed either independence or a need for protection, and that made him tread on unsteady ground. Sure, he was a fox kit— still a child by yōkai standards— but like any child who wanted to be treated like a grownup, he stepped on toes and then wanted to be protected like a child after making a grownup mistake.

Kagome had always handled this well before as a human having not demanded strict yōkai things of the little kit, but she was no longer human. Instincts, needs, yōkai demands— they all mixed together and wanted their due. Kitsune were the trickers of the yōkai, and they didn’t care if you were human or yōkai— and that made them annoying. Images of pranked dragonlings and panthers trying to eat Shippō filled her mind even as the image of one irritated Sesshōmaru taking a bite out of the kit for being annoying and disrespecting him.

“Shippō,” Kagome managed to say, bobbing her arm in a beckoning gesture.

She couldn’t instruct him or demand— not when it was about begging protection or to be added to the pack. With Sesshōmaru so close, he could not make a mistake, and she wondered if Shippō had become too human while she had gone the opposite way.

“Kagome-sama! Sesshōmaru-sama!” Rin’s voice ran out and a blur of bright kimono slammed into both of them at once. She quickly jumped into Kagome’s arms and wriggled under her chin, gently placing a lick under her jaw. Then she wriggled into Sesshōmaru’s arms and did the same, fearless as usual, but oh so attuned. “Have you come to take Rin home?”

“Hn,” Sesshōmaru said, placing one hand on her head.

How had Rin become so learnt in the ways of inu yōkai? It wasn’t like Jaken was licking under Sesshōmaru’s jaw at any point in his life. Grovelling on his tabi boots, perhaps, but—

Rin snuggled into Kagome, tucking herself into her mokomoko like she’d been doing it all her life. Kagome rumbled, baring her teeth in approval as she took in her scent to figure out where Rin had been and what she had been doing since last she saw her— or at least since she’d had her last bath.

“Rin likes Kaede-baachan but ready to come home with you,” Rin announced.

Shippō was standing there, looking pretty gobsmacked, and Kirara bit him on the rump and tail, herding him forward. Shippō did a tentative crawl towards Kagome— the “safer” of the two— and made his way up slowly to her chest and watched Sesshōmaru very, very closely.

Sesshōmaru said nothing, but his eyes never left the fox kit.

Shippō trembled and made his way up to her chin and very quickly gave the bottom of her jaw a lick, cringing as he expected the inu apocalypse.

Kagome waited.

And waited.

Rin jabbed him with her elbow and tilted her head to expose her neck.

Shippō shook his head.

Rin glared at him, pointing at him and then exposing her neck.

Shippō struggled to figure out what Rin was trying to tell him.

Sesshōmaru growled, baring his teeth, and Shippō flailed in fright and then planted his hands and knees as he bared his neck.

Kagome pressed her fangs to his neck and pulled back before Sesshōmaru did the same—

And just like that, the tension was gone.

“Kagome-neesama?” Shippō whispered, rubbing his neck where he still felt the ghost of their fangs on his skin.

Kagome said nothing, but she lifted her head in acknowledgement, giving a slight nod.

Kirara mewed and bopped Shippō over the head a few times with her tail and then leapt onto Sesshōmaru’s shoulder. Shippō stared, jaw hitting the ground as he saw the feline purr and rub all over the inu daiyōkai. He bared his teeth, and the ornery feline yōkai exposed her neck, throwing herself at his face to accept his fangs.

Shippō saw stars as his legs turned to jelly and he fell backwards, tumbling off Kagome, sliding down, and flopping down into the grass. Kirara jumped down, mewed, circled a few times on top of Shippō’s stomach, and then curled up on top of him.

Sesshomaru looked up, casting one last glance at the Bone-Eater’s well. He looked at Kagome silently. “ _Ikuzo_ ,” he said simply, walking away, but Mokomoko-sama wrapped around her wrist and pulled her along.

Kagome smiled, picking up the fox kit and Kirara and following behind him with warmth in her heart. Rin danced circles around them both with her arms outstretched, clearly happy to be back with her preferred “people.” Only Sesshōmaru could make something as simple as “let’s go” sound like a command while holding the warmth of belonging, and she was glad she had come to know it.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Master Ungai stood on the ridge overlooking a burning village, scowling as he saw the screaming people fleeing their destroyed homes. He could sense the powerful presence of yōkai, and he scowled as yet another village was plagued with the evil yōkai. There was someone or something down below, surrounded in angry humans, and he was about to assist when he sensed it— yōki. That _thing_ down there was a yōkai.

The humans were rushing with swords, and the evil spirit was calling their yōki, forming it into a whip, only it seemed as if they were not as adept at control as one used to fighting would be. He saw a figure standing on the higher ridge— white and red with silver hair.

It was _him_. Lord Sesshōmaru. The only one to have handed him his face and his disciples and then let him live. Beside him was that little girl— the human girl who chose yōkai over human.

Perhaps, this was as before. The yōkai lord would simple watch and pass through like so many other times before. He stared down at the yōkai below and then back to where Lord Sesshōmaru was—

He was gone.

“Master Ungai,” one of his monks said. “Shall we deal with the yōkai?”

Ungai nodded. They were yōkai, and they were evil. He may not be able to handle that Lord Sesshōmaru, but he could handle an untrained yōkai.

“Take it out,” he directed.

 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Kagome snarled as the sword cut her side, having lacking experience in hand to hand combat. Her bow remained on her back, despite her familiarity with it. This was a different lesson, despite her ultimate goal— one step closer to realising the importance of multiple weapons.

She let her yōki drip from her talons— the purple and pink poison forming into the long whip that Sesshōmaru had taught her. But manipulating scarecrows and trees and thrown stones was different from true battle— and she had to focus on the people she was saving and her “enemy”.

Night bandits.

Rin’s panicked face haunted her, and she focused on that as she willed her whip into being. Her mokomoko slashed outward, pulling one of them off their horse as she ran them through with her whip. The bandit’s head tumbled off into the brush as his body rolled to his companion’s feet.

One of them had their pants down— they had been pillaging a villager in a different manner.

Anger flared like molten metal in her veins, and her yōki pulsed. Her talons glowed as she pulled her arm back and jumped, fangs bared as she focused on the bandit whose manhood wilted at the sight of her barrelling towards him with fangs bared and claws dripping with venom. Her poison whip materialised and wrapped around the bandit’s body and tore it to pieces, flinging body parts in random directions.

The woman he had been pleasuring himself with screamed and ran away.

Kagome narrowed her eyes but said nothing, her eyes evaluating the remaining bandits, their swords, and their spears. They rushed against her.

“It’s just a woman. **_KILL HER!_ ** ” someone yelled.

They surrounded her in a ring, and she smelled their smug stench and their disgusting lust. It hung about them like slime, and her disgust rose with her yōki and with it that part of her that still believed in the gods.

_Thump-ump._

Her power pulsed and she guided into a whip— long, precise… surgical. She guided it out even as her mokomoko expanded outward and strangled one of the bandits off their horse. Her whip slashed up, down, diagonal— slicing in arcs far too fast for the human eye to see.

She roared as a spear caught her in the side— the one she missed having sneaked in and found her blind spot, and her clawed hands covered the man’s snarling face.

Kagome bared her teeth. She could snarl too, and she had actual fangs.

He desperately tried to shove the spear in deeper, and she crushed his skull with her talons, digging her claws into his flesh and crushing bone.

She grabbed the spear and yanked it out, roaring with the flood of pain before it started to heal. She flung the spear away, panting.

“Kagome-sama!” one of the women whispered, running up to her in a crowd.

They touched her kimono, her arm, even her blood-covered talons.

“ _Arigatogozaimasu_!”

They pet her kimono and her hand in respectful caresses.

_Thank you._

_Thank you._

_You saved us._

Even as she stood there, dripping blood, her fangs bared, her eyes blazing with rage, they overcame their terror to thank her.

Respectful. As it should be.

She let out a low grunt, all she could manage as she struggled to keep her instincts in line and to respond to their respect rather than their fear. Fear _fed_ the yōkai— it was exciting.

Words were still too hard. Too many people. Too much fighting. She had to be close to her pack to be at ease enough to speak without struggle— and even then she did not require it.

She nodded, starting to walk away and let them rebuild their lives.

She heard the scream from behind her, and she whirled, only to see a flurry of monks surrounding her with their spinning dance around her. They chanting their mantras as they thrust their holy beads in front of her.

**_“Ungai-sama! No! She saved us!”_ **

**_“That is an evil spirit!_ ** ” Ungai yelled. “ **_It will be dealt with!”_ **

The circle of monks stopped their spinning as a number of _ofuda_ flew toward her.

“You,” Ungai accused. “I _know_ you.”

Kagome narrowed her eyes, silent as the paper talisman on her forehead stuck to her face and partially covered her vision.

“You were the priestess,” he accused.

“Ungai-sama, I cannot sense its yōki!”

“ **_I_ ** can,” Ungai replied, jabbing his shakujō into the ground. The staff glowed as Kagome found she couldn’t move. Energy crackled all around her. He touched his shakujō, and it sent out a blast of holy energy that exploded in the spot where Kagome was standing and collapsed the poor building nearby.

The dust was thick, and it took some time to dissipate. Kagome stood in the crater with nothing but mokomoko-sama to cover her explosion-devastated body. Kagome looked down, her lips twitching. She cracked her fingers as she curved them into a claw formation. “This Kagome really _liked_ that kimono.”

Anger caused her yōki to spike, and the monks gasped as they tasted her previously subtle power.

Kagome decided fighting a group of monks in front of the people she had just saved would probably cancel out the good feelings she’d only just gained. She closed her eyes, centered herself, and shoved her anger back behind the mask. She turned and walked away.

**_“You don’t get to walk away!”_ ** Ungai yelled, willing a stack of _ofuda_ to go after her again.

A blur of white and red smashed down between them as Bakusaiga slammed down on the ground and a swirl of Sesshōmaru’s yōki blew the _ofuda_ to shreds. His arm went around Kagome as his golden eyes glowered at Ungai as he pulled his sword from the ground and summoned his yōki into a different blast that bowled every one of the monks over.

“Hn,” he said, pressing his fangs to his mate’s mark, his golden eyes flashing. He then flew up into the air and disappeared, taking Kagome with him.

“Him,” Ungai said as he pulled himself off the ground. “Why is it always him?”

The unfortunate villager that had owned the sole un-destroyed house only to have it leveled by Ungai’s attack against Kagome fell to his knees and wailed, **_“My house! My beautiful house!”_ **

Ungai’s fist clenched. **_“I will put an end to this yōkai infestation!”_ **

“It it wise to annoy Sesshōmaru-sama?” one of his disciples asked.

“I hope he doesn’t come back and punish us,” one of the villagers wailed.

“What if the bandits come back and Kagome-sama lets us all die?”

“She has no reason to come back and protect us now!”

“What are we going to do?”

**_“Enough!”_ ** Ungai yelled. “They are evil spirits. Monsters. You do not ask help from monsters.”

One of the women, whose kimono was ripped and her one eye bruised, walked out of the crowd. “She saved my life and my honour. What did _you_ do?” Her husband wrapped a protective arm around her as he glared daggers at Ungai.

Ungai twitched, having no answer with which to reply.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Kagome snuggled into Sesshōmaru’s mokomoko, feeling a bit agitated for having made so many mistakes over the course of one night, but the white inu daiyōkai was not allowing her to sulk. He silently combed her hair with a comb, pulling it back and to the side. He uncorked a bottle of earthy oil and rubbed her shoulders and back, tending to her stress with touch.

He voiced no disapproval for her mistakes, only commenting on how she needed to adapt for her blind areas. If anything, he seemed proud that she had done what she had. Protecting the little villages would be crucial to sealing her domain over the East to the humans as well as the yōkai, and they both agreed that the less trouble with humans the better.

Once, Sesshōmaru’s father had great trade routes with humans, gathering goods from all over Japan, and he had confessed, begrudgingly, that in thinking of the future it would be good to be on better terms for the future pups.

Kagome blushed at the thought of belly swollen with her mate’s pups, wondering how they would arrive into the world. Would she give birth as an inu or in a more humanoid form?

The entire situation with Ungai was troublesome. He could be trouble if he found one of her panthers out hunting or one of the dragonlings. She wondered how they were going to protect their new home as a united western and eastern territory. If Ungai was rampaging around, they would have to protect the loyal yōkai from Ungai and the humans from bandits and the not-so-loyal yōkai. It was more complicated than she had realised.

On top of the list was fortifying the mountain fortress once more and making it into a home that was safe for the pack, especially Shippō, Rin, and the many dragonlings. The panthers could protect themselves, usually, but their safety was also a concern. All of those they protected deserved to have a safe place to sleep, hunt, and raise their families. Happy families were loyal families.

Kirara mewed and curled up in her lap, enjoying Kagome’s pets as Kagome enjoyed the warm touch of her mate.

Eventually, she wanted to have a talk with Sango and Miroku as well, especially since Kirara was sticking around more often and probably worrying Sango sick. She remembered that one day when Sango thought Kirara had left her due to not appreciating her enough.

Kagome’s claws gently stroked Kirara’s ears. She really couldn’t blame the nekomata for preferring a pack, even if she wasn’t an inu. For once, all of her needs were being met. Companionship, the hunt, a safe place in which to settle—and perhaps even a little rest and the ability to relax. And maybe the little yōkai would shamble off to keep Kohaku company, or maybe she would enjoy travelling with Sango again— but it would be on her terms, much as Kagome was doing with her own life.

Purr. BONK. Purrpurr. BONK.

Kirara made it known that Kagome was neglecting her duty as an ear scratcher.

Her mate’s teeth latched onto her neck as he pulled her into an embrace to cuddle by the fire. Kagome squeak-yipped, giving a soft growl of approval as her mate’s warmth reminded her of other more pleasurable priorities— such as providing an heir to the lands of the east and west.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Sesshōmaru knew he had to patrol their combined lands, but he did not like it. He did not wish to leave his mate’s side so soon after their bond was made, but he also knew that his presence had to be reinforced, lest lesser yōkai think it was safe to arrange a coup. Their combined yōki was hardly a small reminder to those travelling through their lands, but boundaries would be tested often in the early days. It was to be expected.

Yet—

Kagome was nestled against him, their combined mokomokos wrapped together and around her in a protective embrace. The memory of her hands working the oil into his skin as she massaged him the night before filled him with contentment. Things were as they should be— as what mates _should_ be. Kagome did not crave power as he once had, but she did not shun it either. She accepted his tutelage in training herself, even when frustrated and feeling herself inadequate. Even when her temper flared, she calmed to his fangs upon her throat, surrendering to the bond and his role as her mate. Even when his temper flared, she stood up to his ire and flashed her fangs at him, reminding him that she was no simple yōkai he could order and demand obedience from. And when her fangs pressed into his throat, that blessed peace of the bond flowed between them and his anger and turmoil transformed into acceptance in her role as the temper to his ire and the soothing touch he never realised he craved until she had given it.

He understood his father’s drive to protect, but even more importantly, he understood why Tōga could no more keep himself from his desired mate’s side than control the winds of the typhoon. Both yōkai and human mates had denied his father the seal of the true mating bond and the peace it brought. Perhaps, had the dragon not killed him, Izayoi may have finally allowed him to seal the mark or at least denied him formally and allowed the wound to heal, but alas, it had not happened.

While his mother had cared for him in her own way and even respected his father, it was clear that something had kept Inukimi from taking that final step and had ultimately denied him the bond— driving him into the arms of Izayoi. But Izayoi was too human, too ignorant of the inu yōkai’s need for more than just her carrying his pup and loving him.

Love was not enough.

Proof was in the bond, and Kagome had yielded to his passion as she surrendered to her own.

Sesshōmaru closed his eyes, pressing his face into his mate’s black hair. He would patrol when she woke, but he would not leave her to wake alone without some warning or important reason.

And nothing was more important than her at that very moment.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

“Sesshōmaru-sama?”

“ _Nanda?_ ”

Sesshōmaru’s golden-eyes regarded his mate, who had somehow gained a nekomata on her head, and both Rin and a fox kit nestled beside her sometime when he’d last closed his eyes.

“Why am I not hungry?”

He tilted his head. “We do not require human food,” he answered. “As you grow in power, you will eat less.” He looked out over the still-sleeping panther yōkai. “The young and the less powerful require food as humans do.”

Kagome was silent as she pondered yet another thing that would have made Sesshōmaru think that both Inuyasha and his friends were lesser beings. Whether it was true or not for humans, it _was_ true for yōkai— so it would have been logical to make the connection in thinking humans or even his half-brother was weak solely on the fact that they ate more. Even Rin, to whom Sesshōmaru felt affection, was “weak”. She was a child, a pup, and they were, by definition, something that needed to be nurtured and cared for.

So, that was why the token offerings of the heart and liver, relatively small in comparison to the whole kill, were so valued as offerings to the leaders and the territory holders. A true leader amongst yōkai that was strong enough to defend a territory was usually a daiyōkai, and they did not have to eat as their protectorate did. Pups, children, or the very old and infirm were given the softer meats for they would struggle to eat the tougher areas on a carcass, while all the rest was fair game for the adults.

But for some yōkai— they did not grow more feeble as humans did. They grew stronger.

And what did that make her, she wondered, having finally aged to young adulthood as a human only to be transformed into something not human in the slightest? As a yōkai aged, she was but a pup still— younger even than Shippō. How confusing.

Sesshōmaru touched her face, gently lowering his head to rub his markings against hers. She could feel them flare to life even though she could not see them glow. “This one must patrol our borders.”

Kagome smiled as a strange mental image of Sesshōmaru in inu form peeing on the borders of his territory jumped into her head and refused to leave. “ _Wakata_ ,” she said, channelling her warmth into her gaze and her touch.

He gently nuzzled her, clasping her neck with his teeth before rising even as his clothes and armor seemed to glide on his effortlessly.

Kagome looked down, finding herself sans clothing once more. She sighed. She really needed to learn how to keep her clothes on.

Realising what she’d just thought, she blushed. Damn it all and her nimble-fingered mate.

A opalescent dragonling slammed into her head, hugging her. “ _Hahaue_!” Koba cried, rubbing herself all over her inu mum. “May I come with you today?”

Kagome rumbled. “Yes.” She wondered what it would be like if human children imprinted on their parents as strongly as baby dragons did— even to the point of learning their first language right from the shell.

Her eyes widened. Lady Izayoi was a foul-mouthed rude woman, if Inuyasha had imprinted on his mum. She snorted in amusement. Even though she knew it was all in jest, the idea of a woman who was as dirty-mouthed as Inuyasha both amused and horrified her.

“I’m _hungry_ , mum!” Koba said, her little stomach growling.

Kagome touched her head and soothed her line of cobalt back fur. Her scaled pups required food, and food they would have.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Shippō couldn’t help but feel awkward as Kagome silently led the way through the Eastern Lands. It was both familiar and yet alien to him— her strange new silence and her equally odd habits she had started take on.

She would stop, completely still, cocking her head as she sat listening. The dragonling that had affixed to her— Koba— mirrored her every movement as she anchored herself around Kagome’s neck with her long tail. She would pick up dirt in her talons and sniff, sifting through it as she inhaled the scents, but she would say nothing. Most often she would stare into the horizon, keeping her thoughts close but her voice locked away. It seemed to be a struggle for her to talk as she once had— so freely giving her opinions and never being afraid to speak her mind. Yet, he wondered if he just wasn’t listening to the right things. Koba seemed to have no struggle in understanding her inter-species mum, even with the differences between them.

Kagome had done a lot of growing up while with Inuyasha’s group, and while she had seemingly come into her own towards the end of Naraku, it had never seemed so obvious as when he watched her now. He could sense her gaze raking over him and taking in where he was, where Koba was, and where sounds came from around them.

Even if she was still learning what it all meant, the instinct was already there: protect. Perhaps it had always been there, only now it had a natural outlet.

She had always been a compassionate being that nurtured and cared for others, even if she had almost always been too easily swept up in helping others to the point where she forgot to take care of herself. He had accused her of abusing Kirara when she’d actually been swept up by her family on the other side of the well—

Could _he_ have done any better?

No… if he had the chance to see his family again, he would have been just as easily distracted if not more so. He would do almost anything to see them again.

“ _Neeeee_ — Kagome?”

Kagome turned, her blue eyes tinted with that strange overlay of purple-pink. “Hrm?”

“Did you adopt Rin?”

Kagome frowned. “She has always been pack to Sesshōmaru-sama.”

“But is she like you and me? I see you as my big sister. Do you see her as a little sister or a daughter?”

“Rin is pack.”

“But—” Shippō trailed off, frustrated. “What do _I_ call her?”

Kagome tilted her head as if she were listening to something. “Rin,” she said, nothing more.

Shippō kind of missed the older— er, younger— Kagome, who gave him such elaborate explanations.

“Kagome—” he whinged, desiring a little more conversation.

Kagome shoved a Koba into his arms, weighing him down.

“Be silent,” Koba whispered.

“But—”

The dragonling stuffed her fluffy tail into his mouth, cutting off his complaint as she used her weight to cause him to fall to the ground. As Shippō looked up, Kagome had leapt away from them, leaving them in the grass. Koba wrapped her tail a round Shippō’s head and dragged it down to the ground.

“What are you doing!?” Shippō muttered into the ground.

“Shh!” Koba said.

It was silent. _Too_ silent.

All he could hear was the thumping of his own heart against the dirt through his chest and the annoying cricket somewhere in the grass. What use was having improved hearing if all you could hear was a bunch of nothing?

Shippō struggled up, sticking his head out of the grass to see a looming lizard-like head staring at him.

“Hello, lunch,” the yōkai said, exposing a smile of countless pointed teeth.

Shippō’s face drained of all blood.

The dragonling rose up and used her tail to throw dirt into the yōkai’s face. “Run, Shippō!”

Shippō was running— running so fast he couldn’t even feel the ground him, faster than he’d ever run from Inuyasha or anyone else. He dodged trees. He jumped boulders; he threw acorns behind him to distract any and all pursuers. He begged forgiveness for not having kept his head down like he had been told. He promised that he’d never be so stupid again, if he’d just live through it.

His legs were feeling like rubber. His body ached.

He didn’t dare look back and waste time that could be used for fleeing.

“Hey! The only one that gets to pick on the runt is me!” a voice yelled.

Shippō screamed as Tessaiga’s attack went over his head and destroyed the ground behind him. The blast threw him up into the air and away as Inuyasha plunged Tessaiga into the following yōkai’s back.

The lizard yōkai screamed as his spine exploded, sending bits of lizard flying in all directions.

“Keh!” Inuyasha scoffed. He plucked Shippō out from under the bush he was hiding in. “Where have you been, runt? Sango was worried sick about you.”

Shippō covered his eyes and squirmed, one hand pointing behind Inuyasha.

The hanyou turned around slowly to see an even larger lizard yōkai’s head, fangs bared and saliva dripping down.

**_Shhhhhhhhhhhthunk!_ **

The beast’s head fell in front of Inuyasha as its body fell the other direction.

A black inu yōkai’s muzzle rose behind it, blood dripping from its jaws.

Inuyasha hoisted Tessaiga with a snarl and leapt to the attack with a yell.

**_“Inuyasha, no!”_ ** Shippō screamed even as a— something— slammed into Inuyasha’s head and knocked him flat.

Inuyasha pried himself off the ground and removed a mass of white scales and blue fur off his head. “What the— who the _hell_ are you?”

“I’m Koba!” the dragonling said. “And I’d appreciate it if you didn’t try to murder my mum!”

“That’s an inu.”

“Yes?” Koba said.

The massive black inu yōkai lowered its head and snarled as Inuyasha didn’t let go of the dragonling.

“You might want to let me go,” the dragonling said. “Mum doesn’t like it.”

“Why the hell can’t I hear her talking?”

The dragonling cocked her head. “She is.”

**_“Inuyasha!”_ ** Shippō cried, running up. “ **_That’s Kagome-sama!_ ** ”

Inuyasha’s ears flattened against his head. “Don’t be an idiot. Kagome is not an inu yōkai, and if she was alive, don’t you think one of us would have known?”

**_“I’m telling you I know!”_ ** Shippō cried, bonking Inuyasha with an acorn. It exploded into red powder and caused the half-demon to sneeze radishes.

Inuyasha released the dragonling to pummel the fox kit.

Koba zoomed over to attach herself to the black inu’s head, snuggling up between her ears.

Mew.

Kirara rubbed up against her legs, and Kagome lowered her head to give the nekomata a good nuzzle and slurp.

Inuyasha dropped Shippō. “What the **_hell_ ** is going on here?!”

Kirara mewed again, hopping up to sit on top of the dragonling who was sitting on top of the inu’s head, making the entire thing look like some strange stacked statue.

Shippō sighed. “Inuyasha, this is Kagome-sama.”

“Since when have you started calling her Kagome-sama, anyway?”

Shippō sighed again, scratching his head a bit madly like he had fleas. “Since she allowed me into her pack and her territory.”

“She was with us already, runt,” Inuyasha said, “and that _doesn't_ explain why you are hanging on a giant inu yōkai!”

Shippō hit his head against the inu’s ears a few times. “So stupid.”

“What did you call me, runt?!”

The black inu had enough, and she scented the air and curled her lips back from her teeth. She turned and began to walk away.

“Hey, where are you going, runt?! Didn’t I say Sango is worried sick about you?”

“Tell Sango I’ll visit soon!” Shippō said, waving.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going!?”

“I have no idea, but it’ll be great!” Shippō yelled back down at him.

“Bye, bye, Scary Dog Human!” Koba said, doing a loop-de-loop with her body.

“What did you just call me?!” Inuyasha yelled, chasing after.

_Sssshiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii_ **_THUNK!_ **

An arrow sang through the air and embedded into the black inu’s rump.

“Mummy, there’s an arrow in your butt,” the dragonling announced.

The black inu’s head whirled around to inspect her butt. Her teeth wrapped around the shaft and pulled it out.

**_Kkkkkthk!_ **

The arrow came free and the inu let it drop. She took off running, her body rising into the air just before she started to fly and blazed a path through the sky both far and away.

Kikyō stepped out of the forest line, her bow lowered.

Inuyasha frowned. “Did you forget to charge the arrow?”

Kikyō frowned. “Who was that you were yelling at, Inuyasha?”

“Shippō,” Inuyasha replied. “Making some stupid friends.”

“Those were his friends?”

“Hard to believe, right?”

“Why didn’t you kill that inu yōkai?” Kikyō asked.

“Keh,” he scoffed. “It protected Shippō. Didn’t seem right to kill it when he was screaming at me not to.”

“And you trust that kit?”

Inuyasha shrugged. “He’s young, but trust me. If something wants to eat Shippō, they’d just eat him, not carry him around.” He approached Kikyō and wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close, snuffling her hair. “I’m going to go hunt to bring something back. Kaede-baasan has been overworking herself, and Miroku hasn’t let me forget it. Do you have a preference?”

“Boar, I think,” Kikyō said after a bit.

Inuyasha smiled. “Alright. Let me know if you sense anything troublesome that you need help with.”

Kikyō nodded. “I will.”

They went their separate ways each with their minds on something else.

 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Inuyasha found himself conflicted— again.

Ever since that driving compulsion to “be with his true love” his initial rapture had been joined with confusion, an itch that demanded scratching but then moved the moment he tried to locate and identify the cause.

At first, he had no doubt that his wish would put him with his true love and thus end the years of conflict that had started with Kikyō and Kagome existing in the same era.

Initially, Kikyō had been a warm, compassionate being, helping others and even accepting him. He had sworn to protect her— had been driven to be at her side as long as he drew breath. But after Naraku’s betrayal, she had changed, that warmth becoming indifferent and cold. Even then, he was driven to be at her side, drawn to her, even when part of him found Kikyō’s old warmth in Kagome. He had been drawn to that as well, but it had never quite been right. Something inside him had always driven him back to Kikyō’s side, even when Kagome’s warmth and compassion told him he could have had so much more.

Part of him had succeeded— growing in power to protect Kagome rather than Kikyō, but…

He always ended up thinking of Kikyō when the battle was over.

Now, it seemed, Kikyō was slowly starting to thaw again and relearn what it was to be human, but it was still strange, still off.

But his body seemed determined to be at Kikyō’s side, driven to protect her again and be with her. He thought that was because Kikyō and Kagome had united as one person, but now Shippō was claiming Kagome was that black inu—

Had the kit’s grief finally made him go off the deep end? Had he refused to accept that Kikyō was the original being? Why was he so set on Kikyō that he couldn’t be bothered to investigate Kagome’s disappearance?

His thoughts were broken by a crash through the forest as a deer went barrelling by him. He started to give chase, unable to stop himself from pursuing such a prey item that just fell into his lap, but he was quickly plowed over by a fast moving opal and blue streak.

“Foxfire!” he heard.

**_Crash!_ **

_Thump._

_Thump thump._

_Crack._

Inuyasha stopped pursuit, his breath caught in his chest as he looked out into the clearing to see that dragonling was struggling to drag the deer down by its neck. Baby teeth and claws scrambled on the deer’s hide as the baby dragon tried to find the right place to throttle the prey, its smaller body unable to snap the neck immediately.

The foxfire was surrounding the clearing, making escape seemingly impossible for the deer, and Shippō was trying to wrap his arms around the deer’s head to force it down and make it easier for the dragonling to do what it needed.

At first, the deer seemed to be winning, but they clung to the animal desperately.

“Don’t let go, Koba!” Shippō said, grunting as the deer’s head thrashed and beat him up as it slammed down on the ground to dislodge him.

Inuyasha’s eyes widened as the giant Inu watched but did not move or attempt to help. It would have taken but a swat of the paw to kill the deer, but it was doing nothing. In fact the great dog was yawning, tongue lolling, as if it was completely bored.

Shippō seemed to realise that what he was doing was attempting to wrestle with something against his smaller size and thinking like a larger predator when he should be thinking like a kitsune. He fell off the head and grabbed vines and wrapped it around the deer’s legs, tying them tightly. The deer struggled and rolled over, but couldn’t move otherwise, giving Koba time to refasten herself to the animals jugular.

Shippō, convinced that the deer wasn’t escaping, focused on helping the dragonling. He focused his energy, the spike of his yōki finally manifesting through the redness of his teeth, and he clamped onto the bottom side of the deer’s neck even as Koba was still on the top. They both slammed their combined weight down, refusing to let go until the deer finally collapsed.

The dragonling and the kitsune kit panted on top of the dead deer, lowering their heads. “Thank you, shika-sama for your life,” they chimed together, leaning on each other as they caught their breath. Their fur was spiked with excitement even as their bodies were already weary.

Shippō looked down at the deer with a dawning realisation. “I really should carry a knife,” he said. “Until I have better claws and fangs.”

Koba cocked her head. “You seemed to do alright.”

“But—” Shippō started.

“You just tend to forget you’re yōkai,” Koba said as she licked the blood off Shippō’s face.

Shippō seemed lost in thought. He stared at his claws and felt around in his mouth with his tongue. “Oh.”

“And you used your head instead of your size,” Koba said. “Mum likes when you use your head.”

Shippō grinned. “Help me get the heart, will you?”

“Okay.”

The pair struggled to open the carcass by the belly. Shippō’s claws were sharper, but he needed a start, and his teeth were dull in comparison to the dragonling’s. Koba tore into the hide with her teeth, breaking the first skin, and Shippō dragged his claws down the belly to open the carcass.

Shippō stared. “Um…”

Koba tilted her head. “Maybe we keep looking until we find it.”

Shippō scratched his head. “I was never allowed around the hunts before, and mum and dad always brought back small things. Rabbits and birds.”

Koba shrugged, the movement travelling down her serpentine body like a wave. “I’ll look for it,” she said, diving into the belly of the carcass with a _SPLORK_ sound.

Shippō’s eyes widened as he fought with different emotions.

Suddenly she tumbled back out, covered in gore, but she had the heart by the aortic arch, looking mighty proud of herself. “Fwond dit” she muttered, mouth full.

They carried it together to the foot of the great Inu, barely but a speck on its paw— the heart seeming even less so.

_Thoomp._

They placed the heart in the grass by its feet.

“Mum!”

“Kagome- _oneesama_!”

“We brought you the heart of our first kill!”

“Together!”

The pair bristled with excitement.

The inu’s head lowered slowly, and her tongue slithered out to clean off the pair until they were both floofy. She took the offering between her fangs and her tongue slipped out and around it, dragging it into her mouth. She swallowed, and it was but a paltry offering, yet—

The inu lifted her head and howled, and the kit yipped while the dragonling roared and a pulse of powerful family yōki blew outward. Far, far in the distance, a lone howl answered.

Inuyasha felt his stomach tighten almost immediately. That was Sesshōmaru’s howl.

“Kagome-oneesama!” Shippō cried. “Can we share this deer with Kaede-obasan, Sango, and Miroku?”

Mew.

Kirara transformed as she jumped down from the Inu’s head and grabbed the deer, leaping up to place it on the inu’s shoulders.

“Yay!”

“Who’s Kaede, Sango, and Miroku?” Koba asked.

“Um… well, I travelled with them along with Kagome-oneesama and Inuyasha. We went after Naraku, who wanted to become a full yōkai and destroy everything.”

Koba blinked. “So, they are your pack?”

Shippō made a face. “They’re my friends.”

“But, not your family pack? Your weyr?”

Shippō scratched his head. “Um, sometimes you just have really close friends. But we weren’t pack or weyr.”

“But you call mum o _neesama_ ,” the dragonling asked.

“Well I always thought of her like a big sister, but now she really is,” Shippō said.

“Oh.” Koba rubbed her head with the tip of her tail. “Ok!”

“ _Hahaue_!” Koba yelled up. “May we ride on you?”

The inu lowered her head and allowed them to ride on her head. The great inu turned and jumped into the air, taking off into the sky towards the village.

Inuyasha struggled as his nose tried to make sense of what he was smelling rather than what his eyes were seeing. There was something familiar in the black inu, but he couldn’t accept that it was Kagome. Not the Kagome _he_ knew. There was no way. She was human.

Humans didn’t become demons. It would have taken a wish from the Shikon no Tama, and that didn’t exist anymore. He’d made the last wish on it—

Inuyasha’s eyes went wide.

“Oh **_fuck.”_ **

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Sango’s jaw hit the ground as the black inu towered above the cooking fire outside their home. Shippō jumped off the beast’s head as he leapt into her arms.

“Sango!” he cried, giving her a hug. “I found her!”

“Her?”

An opal and sapphire dragonling peered around nervously, but the inu lowered its head and flicked an ear to encourage dismount. The dragonling slowly crept off the inu’s head.

“Come meet Sango and Miroku, Koba-chan!” Shippō said.

Kirara leapt down from the inu’s back, delivering the hunt to Sango’s feet.

Sango stared, speechless.

The dragon’s eyes whirled as she took in the area. “This one helps bring first kill to share with _Shippō-niichan no_ …” She made a face as she tried to think of the word. “Not weyr-pack.”

“Friends, Koba-chan!” Shippō corrected.

“Frrrriends,” Koba sounded out, slightly conflicted.

“This is Koba!” Shippō said, pointing to the dragonling. “She’s my sister!”

Sango and Miroku eyed the kitsune dubiously. “Mmmhmm.”

Miroku tired to speak first. “We weren’t aware you had a sister.”

“Brothers and sisters, but Koba is the only one with us today,” Shippō said, a bright smiles on his face.

“This one prefers soaking in _hahaue_ ’s attention,” Koba said. She grinned, all fangs. “This one was firstborn.”

“Spoilt is what you are,” Shippō said with a grin.

“Hn,” the dragonling answered.

Shippō bounced off Miroku and pounced Koba, and they tussled together in the dirt. Shippō tossed acorns at the dragonling, and she jetted flame and electricity at him until his acorn bonked her on the head, and her electricity zapped his tail.

They both fell to the ground rubbing their wounded parts and pride, then, almost immediately, started up again.

**_SNAP._ **

The inu grabbed them both between her fangs like a cage and growled.

“Awww,” the two cried together. “Playtime over.”

She opened her jaws to let them out, and they sat together by the fire, looking this way and that.

Sango and Miroku looked a little gobsmacked and sat down by the fire.

The kit and the dragonling eyed the inu’s tail, and they pounced on it together, making mock growls and pounces to capture it only to have it escape and have them try again.

“Oniisan! Oneesan!” Rin’s voice broke the silence. She ran out from Kaede’s hut and beelined towards them as a frustrated kappa ran frantically after her.

“Rinchan! Don’t just go running off! It took me forever to find you the first time!”

Rin scampered up to the black Inu as her head came down to the ground, fangs exposed.

“Rin! No!” Sango said, instinctively thinking the worst.

Rin paid her no heed, slipping out from Sango’s hands and rushing up to the Inu’s head and bumped her cheek against her jowls and very purposely gave her a tiny lick. “ _Konbanwa, Hahaue!_ ” she greeted joyously. “Kaede-obasan taught me how to make pickles today!”

The black inu gave the girl a slurp, plucking her up by the kimono and plunking her down with Shippō and Koba. The trio squirmed together, rubbing cheeks and giggling, then all three of them played with the inu’s tail. Kirara joined in, unable to resist the twitching tail.

Sango and Miroku exchanged glances, their minds trying to put together simple math and coming up with an imaginary negative number.

Jaken finally made it up the path and collapsed by the fire with a tired moan.

The “kids” saw Jaken, and surrounded him, propping him up, putting a drink in his hand, and drawing a shawl over him before going back to their play.

Sango and Miroku eyed Jaken. Jaken looked at them through half-lidded eyes. “What?”

“Um, so, Jaken,” Sango said.

“Eh?” he replied.

“Could you possibly tell us who that is?”

“Eh?” Jaken said, obviously too tired to even notice where he was. He looked around blearily, having perhaps exhausted himself to the point of obliviousness. His eyes widened as he took in the black inu. He leapt up and the promptly slammed himself down to the ground. “AH! Kagome-sama! I did not see you there in the dark because you are also dark. Forgive me, oh great Kagome-sama, for my shameful inability to see in the dark!”

The black inu flattened her ears, but then she yawned wide, showing all of her fangs in great, vivid detail.

“Jaken-sama!” Rin said. “You don’t have to grovel. Just say hello!”

The trio was sitting on the twitching tail together, moving up and down with it like they were on a see-saw.

“That would be greatly inappropriate after failing to make proper greetings when I first arrived!” Jaken stammered.

The kids shrugged together. “Okay.”

“Wait, this is Kagome? The _real_ Kagome?” Sango gasped.

“That is Lady Kagome?” Miroku said at the same time.

Jaken mumbled into the ground. “Is there another Kagome-sama in the territory of the East and West?”

“Wait, what does the east and west have to do with it?” Sango asked.

Rin was cuddling Koba as they slid down the inu’s tail and sat by the fire. “Because those are the only two territories that matter.”

“But, the Western Lands are ruled by Sesshōmaru-sama,” Sango said.

“And the Eastern Lands don’t have a ruling yōkai,” Miroku said.

The black inu rose to her feet, teeth bared, and she leapt into the sky and shot upward only to collide with the very familiar and imposing true form of Sesshōmaru. They twisted around each other, fangs bared, plummeting towards the Earth like falling stars.

**_Boom!_ **

The ground quaked, and a giant cloud of dust slowly faded. Two humanoid figures walked side by side together, close but not touching save for the lightest brush of their mokomokos between them.

“Sesshōmaru-sama,” Sango said in a gasp, bowing immediately.

“Kagome-no-kimi,” Miroku whispered, bowing his head with haste.

“What?” Sango’s head jolted up to see Sesshōmaru’s cold expression hit her full on, causing her knees to quake without her permission. Even as her head jerked, and she almost bit her own tongue, she saw the human form of the black inu at last.

Kagome’s face remained much the same, only slightly more feral and sharp of cheek. Her hair was now down to the end of her spine, and blue markings adorned her wrists, ankles, and cheeks. On her forehead there was a single spiral, but on her neck was the familiar crescent moon half hidden by her hair.

“ _Haha-ue_!” Koba and Rin cried.

“ _Ane-ue!_ ” Shippō cried, scampering up.

The all looked way up to Sesshōmaru, his tall stature making them strain to do so. “Sesshōmaru-sama!”

“Sesshōmaru-sama!” Jaken cried, going back to prostrating himself in the dirt. A spark from the fire set his sashinuki hakama on fire, and he yelped, frantically fanning his rump only to make it worse.

Sesshōmaru and Kagome looked on impassively, but Kagome looked slightly more concerned when the kappa started running towards the village and the dry crop field, but then the poor yōkai trip-slid across a puddle getting himself covered in mud.

The fire went out, though—

Koba shook her head. “Jaken-sama will require a bath.”

“And how,” Shippō said, shaking his head in agreement.

“Should Rin go and help?” she asked.

“No,” Sesshōmaru and Kagome said together.

“Okay!” Rin said cheerfully and sat down again.

“Kagome?” Sango said tearfully, her emotions surging. She looked at her with same heartbroken expression she had once had the day she thought Kirara had left and been killed by the gorilla-yōkai. She ran towards her and engulfed her into an embrace, crushing her against herself, sobbing.

At first, Kagome stiffened, but then, as her body remembered Sango’s touch and the memories they had shared together. She struggled with words once more, torn between putting her effort into controlling her stronger and more powerful emotions and expressing herself in words.

“San-go,” she whispered, her talons gently tapping on the taijiya’s back.

“It _is_ you!” Sango cried. “It **_IS_ ** you!” she hugged Kagome even tighter, and the inu yōkai relaxed a little, allowing the woman to come undone.

Miroku started to creep over for a hug as well, his arms extended to get in on the hugging action, but Sesshōmaru’s index talon plunked in to his forehead as he growled.

“No.”

The monk found himself on his rear end, slumped, a sigh of disappointment on his lips. “Why does Sango always get in on the action. That’s not fair.”

He spied Sango’s rather shapely arse and reached out to touch that instead.

**_SLAP!_ **

Sango’s hand connected to his face and he went tumbling to the side. “You choose **_NOW_ ** to do that, you… **_HENTAI!_ ** ”

Miroku lay flat on his back, wheezing with a pained face. “Nnngh.”

The tiny trio looked back and forth together, heads bobbing like they were watching an intense game of racquetball.

“No wonder mummy isn’t talking,” Koba said. “Human social customs are so strange.”

“They’re not normally this odd,” Shippō said, trying to defend them.

Mew.

Kirara’s head went back and forth as she watched the drama unfold.

“See? Kirara agrees!” Koba said.

Kirara mewed, rubbing up against Koba.

“I wonder if we’ll get dinner anytime soon,” Koba said, her tummy growling noisily.

“I could get you some off the carcass,” Shippō said.

Koba shook her head. “Can’t eat before mummy and daddy.”

“Oh,” Shippō said, scratching his head. “I’m too used to fending for myself around these guys.”

Sesshōmaru let out a low growl. “You will extricate yourself from this Sesshōmaru’s mate so we can share food that the pups may eat.”

Sango fell backwards with a gasp. “Mate?”

Sesshōmaru’s eyes narrowed dangerously into slits. “Are you ignorant as to what a mate is? Do you require visual aids?”

Sesshōmaru placed his talons around Kagome’s neck, ever so gently rubbing his cheek against her jawline. His teeth bared as he attached himself to her neck like a lamprey and drew a rumbling growl of lust from Kagome. Their yōki pulsed together, and the beacons across the Eastern and Western Lands flared and strengthened, sending an even bigger pulse of yōki across their combined territories. From the Eastern Lands the panthers roared, and from the Western Lands the vassals of Sesshōmaru howled. Mixed within were the tiny roars of the dragonlings.

“Arou!” Rin chimed in.

“Yip. **_YIP!”_ ** Shippō cried.

“ **_Rawwrrr!”_ ** Koba roared.

Sango shuddered as the spike of power flowed through her, and she turned to see if Miroku felt the same—

Miroku was getting off on watching the two daiyōkai reinforcing their bonds as mates.

Sango flushed, summoning her boomerang. **_“Hiraikotsu!”_ **

“ **_AHHHHHHHHHHHHH SANGOCHAN WHYYYYYYY!”_ ** Miroku cried, fleeing from the campfire as the boomerang chased him across the rice fields.

Sango returned to the fire to see Sesshōmaru and Kagome sharing something bloody between them. Her eyes widened as each of them took time to lick the blood from the other’s mouth, a rumble of appreciation sounding off from their throats.

Then, Kagome turned, using one talon to slice the second carcass that had appeared as if by magic (thanks to Sesshōmaru), carefully fed Rin, Shippō, and Koba and watched them eat their portions completely before she turned her back on the carcass, allowing them to do with it what they willed.

Surprisingly, Koba dive into the carcass first and did some “rummaging” before coming out with the tenderloin in her mouth. She slithered out and put it in Rin’s hands before diving back in, pulling out the ever tasty and coveted liver.

Shippō looked at it, but the little dragonet growled, curling her body around it as she hurriedly gnawed on the end of it. Shippō, mollified, cut a bit of the ribs off the carcass and carried it over to the fire to cook it.

Koba’s face twisted into disgust as she realised Shippō was going to cook “perfectly wonderful raw meat.”

Koba watched Rin who was skewering the tenderloin to put it over the fire to cook. The dragonling sighed. This simply wouldn’t do.

She sidled up next to the girl, taking her liver with her, and she ripped off a chunk, chewing it thoroughly and them bonked her muzzle into Rin’s face and shared.

Rin’s eyes went wide as the offering went into her mouth, and she swallowed.

Encouraged, Koba flared her yōki and did it again.

Rin swallowed again, looking a little baffled. Then, she seemed to get the idea, and she took a piece off the liver and chewed it and offered it back to Koba.

Koba did a loop de loop, flaring her yōki and the tendrils of it went into Rin. She licked Rin’s face clean, rumbling in approval.

Sango busied herself, neatly spitting the kill that Shippō and Koba had gifted her and Miroku, her face wrinkled as she considered what she was learning. She stroked Kirara’s head and back, and the nekomata mewed appreciatively. More importantly, she showed no sign of aggression or fear, which gave Sango much to consider, even without the strangely alien sense of caring that Koba showed for Rin, the detached and silent way Kagome seemed to watch over them, and the even more unexpected raw protectiveness demonstrated by Sesshōmaru.

Kagome stood, extricating herself from Sesshōmaru with a silent rub of her cheek against his, her talons ever so gently brushing against his chin line. She said nothing, but he nodded as if she had, and she turned and walked in the direction of the Bone-Eater’s Well.

Sango, finishing eating the roasted meat she had skewered on a bamboo skewer, put some more near the fire and left it so she could follow Kagome.

Kagome walked slowly, almost as if she were feeling the very ground beneath her as she walked. They came to the  well, and Kagome sat on the edge, her fingers brushing against the wood and stone, her eyes cast down in thought. “Sango,” she said, seemingly rolling the name around in her mouth like a foreign object.

“Kagome, what happened?” Sango gushed.

Kagome winced, struggling with speech, but she seemed to focus her will into making it work for her. “Pain,” she said. “Emptiness. Then— warmth inside me. It flooded inside and I woke up as I am.”

“A yōkai?”

Kagome nodded.

“Did you wish—?”

Kagome shook her head. “I didn’t even get the chance.”

Sango stared into her lap.  “Is it difficult? Connecting to your past?”

Kagome frowned, one ear twitching. “Emotions are very strong. Words are harder to focus.  You speak with words. Say one thing, mean something else. Your body betrays your words. It’s— hard to focus.”

“You never had problems talking to us before,” Sango said.

Kagome’s eyes narrowed. “I could never _see_ then. Feel. Sense.  There are no small emotions, only strong ones. Good or bad. Or the emptiness between.” Kagome shook her head. “That’s not— not usual,” she corrected. She clenched her  fist together. The truth was when she wasn’t around familiar yōki, or very familiar energies, such as when Rin had greeted her the first time after her change, it was difficult to communicate with words. It took serious effort.

Sango was suspicious, as much as she wanted to believe that Kagome was _still_ Kagome, but a long time being fooled by Naraku again and again had not helped any of them learn to trust easily.

Kagome wanted to talk to Sango like she always had, but the words got tangled in her emotions much as they did back home in her own time when forced to do public speaking. Even thinking of her family back in the future made her feel conflicted. Would they even consider her family anymore?

“It worries me,” Sango said. “Inuyasha knew what a selfish wish could bring. If he _did_ wish for something selfish, does that mean the Shikon no Tama will simply show up again?”

Kagome shook her head. “No. It made a wish.”

“What?”

“When someone makes a selfish wish, the jewel itself can make one of its own.” Kagome stared up to the sky, staring at the stars. “Usually, that wish has always been to restart the cycle anew so the yōkai and Midoriko battle again forever.”

Kagome sniffed. “The jewel had been purified— the yōkai and Midoriko dormant. The jewel made the wish, not them— I think, maybe,” she said, frowning as she tried to put it to words. “Maybe it wanted to save me.”

“Somehow you are both miko and yōkai.” Sango said it plainly, trying to get it sorted in her own head.  “That should not be possible.”

Kagome’s lips curved into a predatory smile. “Do you think Kirara vicious and bloodthirsty?”

**_“No!”_ **

“Do you think she’ll be a murderer?”

**_“Never!”_ **

“So a yōkai can choose to be—” Kagome searched for the word she needed. “Civil.”

“Of course they can, you **_know_ ** that!”

“Then, why could they not also have faith?”

Sango’s jaw dropped, and she swore she could feel her tongue rolling out like a bedroll. “I—”

Kagome chuckled, the first sign of her old humour returning.  

Sango, seemingly realising what a fool she was being, laughed, and she flung herself around Kagome at last, hugging her tightly. This time, however, she held nothing back, and the stress in Kagome’s shoulders and body finally melted away as she returned the fond embrace.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

 

Sango felt a profound sense of relief as the pair of them chatted well into the night— long enough to get a bit chilled.

“Kagome, don’t you want to go home even for a little while?”  Sango asked.

Kagome, who had moved to sit on the lip of the well as she once had many times before. “This Kagome cannot risk leaving and abandoning her territory.” Her expression had turned sombre and more stoic.

Koba appeared, thumping into her mum with an _oof_ and nuzzling under her chin in placation and apology, silently making sure she didn’t forget she was there.

Koba snuggled into Kagome before sitting on the edge of the well. Her eyes widened as she looked down, tongue flicking as her curious nature  overwhelmed her. Her baby claws clenched the side of the stone, but her rear end was a little heavy, and it tried to push the rest of her over. She slipped and made an _eep_ sound, her claws scrambling and flailing for purchase on the slippery well stone.

A sibling appeared in a cloud of yōki, clamping his mouth on Koba’s tail. Another appeared behind that clamping her mouth on their tail. They formed a chain to keep themselves from falling in.

Kagome leaned over, using her arm to gently lever them up.

“Phew.”

“Thanks mummy!”

“Thanks mum!”

“ _Arigatougozaimasu, Hahaue_!”

Kagome sighed, her head shaking. She bared her teeth, pressing her face to each of her dragonlings’ necks, sniffing them over as she gave each one a tender slurp of affection. Each dragonling sang their name to her, perhaps as a reminder or even instinct.

Sango stared, unsure what to think. She wasn’t a dragon specialist, and while her family were all about yōkai hunting— dragons were kind of a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell and run like you’re going to die’ topic.

Koba— that was the one who seemed attached to the hip (or shoulder in her case) to Kagome.  Her distinctive pearly scales and vibrant blue body fur made her rather flashy in appearance. Kiba was an emerald green with purest white mane-fur, and he had flashy golden teeth and a bright orange tongue that he flicked in and out when he wanted to know what was going on. His eyes matched his tongue, glowing like twin suns.  Kawa was a dark cobalt blue with an aquamarine mane and eyes, and he sported extra floofy back-fur that reminded Sango of the mokomokos. Kona was earthen-coloured, and her body seemed to be mottled like sun between the branches on the forest floor. Even her eyes matched the mottle, barely even allowing an onlooker to tell which end was the biting end.

Dragonlings…

Sango wasn’t ready to even _guess_ what she should think. What did you call baby dragons? Dragonets? Little dragons? Mini blighters? Bother…

Kagome was watching her carefully, evaluating what Sango was thinking, perhaps. Sango found herself unsure about a lot of things.

“Hahaue?”

“Hn?”

“What’s down there?”

“It’s shiny.”

Kagome looked over the edge.  “Time, but when, I am not quite sure.”

The dragonlings whispered to each other.

“Kagome, how is it that dragonlings can talk so young?”

All four dragonlings stared at her, looking at her like she was a tasty morsel.

Kagome frowned. She made an egg shape with her hands and pantomimed it cracking open as a shower of something from her head had flowed into the egg.

Sango blinked. “Neee?”

“Mum says it’s because we imprinted on her,” Koba said.

“It’s a dragon thing,” Kona said, bobbing her head. She did a wave with her body in mid air before hopping back down on the rim of the well. “There were a _lot_ of us.”

Kawa and Kina bobbed their heads in agreement.

“When you’re family is really big, you need an advantage,” Kawa said.

“Being cute isn’t enough,” Kona said in agreement.

“We do have cute down though,” Koba said.

“Indeed,” the dragonets agreed together.

“Cute keeps _Chichiue_ from murdering us.”

The dragonlings nodded together happily.

Kagome snorted in amusement, startling Sango.

“Mew,”  Kirara said, hopping into her lap and purring.

Sango realised Kagome was smiling again, _really_ smiling, and it warmed her heart to know that the miko was able to.

Miko? Yōkai? What _was_ she, and did it really matter?

“Hahaue?” Kawa asked.

“Hm?” she replied.

“If we drop a rock in the well, will it hit someone on the head in the future?”

Kagome’s eyebrow shot up into a steep angle.

Sango couldn’t help herself. She laughed loudly, startling the dragonlings and causing Kagome to give her a “look”.

“It’s hard to remember they are kids when they speak so easily but then they remind us all that they are still very young.”

Kagome smiled and shrugged silently, but the smile was genuine.

Kina yawned, all fangs and tongue. He peered over the well’s side, staring at the swirling not-water below. His tail twitched as his back fur rose as his curiosity was piqued.

Kagome watched him closely just as a soft, almost undetectable _tink_ of a notch from an arrow falling onto a string sounded out.

**_“Brother, no!”_ ** the other dragonlings cried throwing themselves onto his tail to pull him back even as Kagome leapt to shield them from whatever was coming their way, knowing her chances of survival were far greater than theirs.

Kagome’s arms went around her dragonlings as an arrow hit her straight to the chest where the jewel had once been buried.  She roared in pain, and her body thrashed, her humanoid form not as resilient at her great inu one. And explosion of wild reiki mixed with yōki poured out from the area.

_Thum-thump._

**BOOOM!**

The nova of power shattered the outside of the well even as Kagome’s body fell into the depths.

“Kagome!” Sango screamed as she rushed to the  rubble of the well, staring down into depths of the Bone-Eater’s well as she looked to see— praying  for— Kagome having somehow stopped her descent into the well’s magical vortex.

**_“No!”_ ** Sango cried.

The well was empty; the glow was gone.  

A horrible, bone-chilling howl pierced the air with the kind of despair that made the idea of falling on one’s sword seem like a wonderful idea.

A mottled dragonling crawled out of the well’s ruins, crying in pain, scales dull and back fur tangled with stone powder and plant pieces.

The dragonling seemed to wilt, body slithering onto the ground as she radiated distress. “ _Hahaue!_ ” she whimpered, her voice cracking. **“** **_HAHAUE_ ** **!!!”** she let out a wail of despair.

Sango’s heart beat like a wild thing as Sesshōmaru landed on the ground with enough force and power to level a patch of trees. His lips pulled back from bared, pointed fangs as  his talons curved around Kikyō’s neck.

“You will tell this Sesshōmaru what you have done to his mate,” he snarled, the venom in his claws glowed and dripped from his talons with a pale, green aura. His golden eyes had been swallowed in crimson, shifting into the unnerving teal of his true form.

Kikyō’s eyes were wild and filled with emotion as she let out a laugh. The complete presence of emotions seems like a strange, alien contrast to the colder, almost unemotional being that had once been formed of clay and fed by soul eaters.

“The soul was mine, not hers,” Kikyō muttered, not even seeming to see the position she was in. “She’s where she belongs,” she said. “Away from here. Away from us.”

Sesshōmaru’s talons clenched tighter. “Kagome belongs with this Sesshōmaru.”

Kikyō’s smile was delirious. “Feel free to follow her.”

Sesshōmaru’ fangs dripped his poison, even as it simultaneously  trickled down his talons. He started to crush her throat. While Kikyō’s eyes were filled with a sort of emotion-fueled insanity— too much where once was so little— Sesshōmaru’s expression was utterly cold, dispassionate, and lacking of a remote flicker of emotion.

A rumbling blast shot through the air as Tessaiga’s attack blew them apart. Kikyō went one direction and Sesshōmaru the other.  Kona affixed herself to Sesshōmaru’s leg, trembling and eyes wild.

“Inuyasha, no!” Sango yelled, standing between them with Kirara, who had transformed into her larger and more ultimately brassed-off form.

She dropped to her knees in front of Sesshōmaru, bowing. “Please, Sesshōmaru-sama. She has always returned before. She will return!”

Inuyasha stood over Kikyō, his face twisted between instinctive protective anger and confusion. “What—” he began to say. “What happened?”

Kona stared accusingly at him. “Your intended attacked my brother, and Hahaue shielded us from the arrow. But she fell into the well and disappeared!”

Inuyasha blinked, his eyes flicking to his half-brother’s stone-cold face. “How do you—”

The dragonling bared her teeth at Inuyasha. “You haven’t sealed your mating bond. It’s no wonder you’re both messed up! You’re going all possessive violent, and she’s going all mental because only half of her is connected to you!”

Inuyasha let Tessaiga’s blade drop to the ground. “What?”

“Halfbreed,” Sesshōmaru growled. “You have been living for how many years with an incomplete bond, and you did not even notice?”

“What the hell are you talking about, Sesshōmaru?” Inuyasha yelled as he helped Kikyō up.

Sesshōmaru’s eyebrow seemed to twitch along with his ear tip. “It is in our blood to focus on one female, who can either refuse us or accept our courtship. We cannot focus elsewhere for long while that incomplete bond remains so— but you—” Sesshōmaru curled his lip, his fangs showing slightly. “You not only allowed the little miko to think there was a possibility, but you were still attached to the old, fake one.”

“She is not fake!” Inuyasha roared, looking ready to leap out at him again. He leapt, unable to control his temper.

Sesshōmaru grasped his half-brother by the throat, talons clenching as his other hand crushed his opposite wrist. “You are in the grips of the madness, hanyō,” he said through gritted teeth. “Either mate the human or have her deny you, or your combined insanity will kill you both.”

He flung Inuyasha away, causing him to topple into Kikyō in a crumpled heap.

Sesshōmaru turned and started to walk away.

Kikyō drew back her bowstring, setting an arrow.

“Kikyō what are you—!” Inuyasha yelled.

**Zzzzshhhhhiiiinng!**

_Thunk._

Sesshōmaru had turned, his hand grasping the arrow shaft as it turned to ash in his hand. “You could not hurt this Sesshōmaru when you were a miko, human. Why do you think your pathetic arrow could do so now?”

His eyes narrowed as he scowled at Inuyasha. “And you, hanyō, are pathetic to not have realised her deceit.”

Sesshōmaru turned slowly and left, and Kirara followed behind. Sango, torn between her friend and Kirara’s judgement, made a tortured face before dashing after the nekomata.  

Inuyasha stared at Kikyō. “What does he mean ‘when you _were_ a miko’?”

The strange insanity in Kikyō’s eyes faded when they were alone once more. She shook her head as if to clear it by force. She seemed to wrestle with her emotions as her eyebrows knit together. “I—” she started to say. “I haven’t had holy powers since you made your wish.”

Inuyasha felt the weight of a thousand stones around his neck. “That’s why you didn’t remove the _Kotodama no Nenju_ the night we were going to—” he trailed off, face twisting in anguish. “I was so angry that you didn’t trust me enough to take them off, I never realised you couldn’t take them off.”

Kikyō stared at the ground.

“Kikyō, what did you do? Sesshōmaru was going to kill you!”

Kikyō fisted her hair with one hand. “I—” She stared at the well— or what was left of it. “I was so jealous, I—” She shivered. “I don’t remember. I just… I just wanted her to go away.”

Inuyasha walked over to the partially destroyed well. “I can’t tell if it’s working. He perched on the ledge that wasn’t broken and looked down. He stared at Kikyō. “Was it really Kagome?”

Kikyō frowned. “It was a yōkai.”

“But was it Kagome?” Inuyasha pressed.

Kikyō sighed. “She looked— similar.”

Bonk.

An acorn his Inuyasha on the head. “ _Inubaka_ ,” Shippō said sleepily. “Where is Kagome- _oneechan_?”

Inuyasha turned abruptly. “Keh. She went down the well,” he said, hoping like other times that Shippō would take it as he always did.

“WHAT?” Shippō cried. “You’re lying!”

Inuyasha konked Shippō on the head and rubbed his hair with his fist. “Do I look like I’m lying, runt?”

Shippō squirmed and  escaped, but he eyed Inuyasha suspiciously. “She wouldn’t have,” Shippō said seriously, his brows knit together. “She promised not to leave me alone like when my parents died! She promised to teach me how to be a real yōkai! She promised she wasn’t going to go in the well again!”  

“Since when do you think Kagome can teach you how to be a real yōkai, runt?”

Shippō gave him a steely glare. “Since Sesshōmaru-sama almost murdered me for mucking up my yōki and accidently challenged him in front of his mate!”

“You must have hit your head pretty good, runt,” Inuyasha said. “My half-brother doesn’t have a mate.”  

Shippō looked skyward and sighed. “You really need to solidify that something something you have together,” Shippō said gesturing at Inuyasha and Kikyō with two hand puppets. “Maybe then you’d realise that the reason I knew you were lying was that Kikyō smelled of guilt— I’m betting she’s not used to having all those genuine human emotions again, so she’s equally not able to hide them like she once did.” The fox kit stormed away, his disgust plain to see on his face.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Kagome woke to find herself staring at the bright gold eyes of an inuyōkai pup who was poking her with a branch he had fashioned into a sword. As she stirred, pulling herself up from the ground, the dragonlings unfurled from under her after having flattened themselves against her body for protection.

Her nose worked, and her eyes narrowed.

The pup, however, was not impressed. He puffed himself up and  pointed his sword at her, trying to look impressive.

Kagome scented the air, pulling on the lessons her mate had given her as she sorted through her instincts. The pup should not be alone, yet she smelled nothing— heard nothing else like a parent being nearby.

He stared at her defiantly, seemingly undeterred by his smaller stature.

Kagome stood, silent, but she gave the pup a nod of acknowledgement.

Suddenly, the pup’s entire demeanour changed. Her small nod brought out a drastic transformation, and he began to follow her.

The dragonlings, clinging to her body and hiding in her Mokomoko, stared at him as they exchanged silent curious glances.

A rustling caught her attention, and Kagome dropped down, nose working. A buck was limping nearby, having been gored by his fellow male in an attempt to impress a female. His loss would feed her dragonlings, and she knew they would be hungry due to their growling stomachs.

She pulled her bowstring back as the arrow formed between her fingers, and then she released.

ShhhhhhhhhhhhiiiiiiinnnnnnTHUNK!

The arrow took the deer straight through to the other side, piercing through the lungs and heart. The deer, having lost much of his fight in the battle to mate, staggered a few yards before falling over.

Kagome walked closer as the deer breathed its last. She knelt down and  touched the wound area. Her yōki-arrow disappeared into the air with a shimmer.

“This one thanks you for your life to feed my family,” Kagome said quietly. She quickly sliced down the belly and found the two pieces she was looking for. Plucking a broad leaf from nearby, she wrapped the heart and liver in the leaf and bound it with braided grass.

“What’s that, _Hahaue_?” the dragonlings asked, wondering why she would give such tasty things to the leaves and dirt.

Kagome scowled, trying to put things into words for the dragonlings to understand. “This is not our home.”

They stared at her in confusion. “Yes it is! It’s the East!”

Kagome shook her head. “It is not this Kagome’s East.”

Her dragonlings were obviously trying to wrap their minds around that.

Kagome used a foot to sweep out the peace circle on the ground. In the near-center she placed the wrapped bundle of heart and liver. She built a small fire in the center, using her power to ignite the tinder into a small column of smoke. She allowed the mixture of her power to drip off her talons, casting it over her smoking fire to mark it as hers.

She nudged the dragonlings over. “Put some of your yōki into the fire,” she guided.

Koba attempted it first, concentrating hard and making her fur stand on end. Her yōki flashed, and part of it caught on the fire. She stared up at her mother hopefully, and Kagome nodded in approval. Koba smiled, beaming, and curled up back on her mum’s neck.

Kina and Kawa tried next, feeding off each other’s competitive nature to outdo each other. Kina focused his yōki well, but Kawa ended up channeling a gush of water instead. Kagome plucked the dragonling up and scowled at him.

“Sorry, Hahaue,” Kawa apologised, embarrassed.

Kagome sniffed, thumping the dragonling on the rump before putting him on her other shoulder to cling there— and drip water somewhere else. Kagome redid the fire, concentrating her yōki to keep the  flame lit but not burn, much like the fires that glowed back in her Eastern fortress. She then carefully carved the carcass with her claws, making sure each mouth had an equal share. She cut some of the tenderloin and placed it on a broad leaf along with some of the tastier bits and thumped it down in front of the inuyōkai pup, saying nothing.

The pup looked like he was going to dive right in, but the dragonlings all looked at their mother expectantly. Koba tore off a piece of her share and climbed up her mum’s chest and thunked the offering into her mother’s mouth.

Kagome raised one brow but chewed and swallowed, giving Koba an approving slurp upside the muzzle.

The dragonlings dove into their shares with abandon, hungrily making it all disappear. The inuyōkai pup seemed torn between wonder and hunger, and decided to go with hunger first. The dragonlings yawned, flashing fangs.

“Hahaue,” Koba protested, “may we sleep?”

Kagome took in a deep breath and let it out. She used her foot to draw out an extension to the peace circle and then leaned against the trunk of one tree. The dragonlings distributed over her lap as Koba claimed her neck, snuggling into her mum with a happy sigh.

As she watched the sky, the inuyōkai pup stared at her, making no effort to conceal his rudeness. She slid her eyes sideways to regard him.

She watched his  emotions threaten to control him, and he beat them down with his force of will. She tilted her head, strangely amused by the effort the pup was putting into self control at such a young age.

He squared his shoulders and tilted his head up defiantly. “This one thanks you for the meal,” he said.

Kagome nodded, offering silent acknowledgement.

She closed her eyes, allowing her ears to do the listening as she rested. After a few minutes, she felt the distinctive touch of one little pup nestling into her mokomoko for  warmth with the dragonlings. A small tug of a smile moved her lips as she relaxed.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

 

When the badger yōkai scented the wrapped parcel, he smiled, knowing he wouldn’t have to hunt for dinner for himself. His claws scraped at the slickly wrapped meat, his nose telling him everything he wanted was inside. His jaws wrapped around the cord and gnawed, attempting to  pull or snap it open to release the hidden treasure.

KKRRRRRREEKKKSNAP!

The jaws of a great dragon snapped up the badger in one bite, viscously  shaking the body until it hung limp. It made a widening motion with its jaws and then snapped one more time, swallowing both the honor offering and the would-be thief in one go.

The dragon sniffed the fire, nostrils flaring as he noted the scents, memorising they who would not forget to pay respects to the ruling Lord of the East. The great dragon sensed eyes upon him, and he raised his head, looking closer to see a figure leaning back against one of the trees.

The figure stood, and the dragon saw the pup beside her and—

Hatchlings? How was that possible?

Yet—

The scents were familiar. This mysterious female was teaching the ways of honor to her unorthodox pack. Perhaps she, too, was a dragon, and this was her weyr. Odd that he’d never scented her before.

He rumbled thoughtfully. “I am Ryūkotsusei, Lord of the Eastern Lands, and you have honoured the Old Ways of respect and peace. What is your name, that I may call you by it?”

The female approached and bowed lowly. “This one is known as Kagome,” she replied. She unfurled Koba from her neck.

“This one is Koba!” she announced, puffing up, but not forgetting to bow her head.

“Kina!” the emerald dragonling said.

“Kawa!” the cobalt dragonling said.

They all bowed, emulating their mum.

The dragon lowered its head, eyeing the inuyōkai pup. “And you are?”

The pup arrogantly lifted his head, not bowing. “This one is Sesshōmaru.”

The three dragonlings snapped their heads around.  “Aren’t you a little tiny to be Sesshōmaru?”

The pup looked at them strangely.

The dragon, unimpressed with Sesshōmaru’s lack of manners, pulled back his muzzle as his  yōki built up, jaws parting to blast the rude offender into paste.

Kagome, eyes widening, did the only thing she could think of to stop what was going to happen. She threw herself in front, tossing Sesshōmaru into the peace circle, and then rubbed her jaw along the dragon’s muzzle in an appeal for protection.

The yōki and jaki faded  as the dragon’s eyes widened, having been startled by the bold move.

Her throat was bared as she waited for his answer. She did not tremble, but she did not move.

Ryūkotsusei considered the situation.

She had stepped out of the peace circle to throw the pup into it, sacrificing her safely for the insolent pup under her protection— a pup he knew was not hers. She had taught her dragonlings well, and they had emulated her grace and politeness. She had appealed to his protection, begging his acceptance and the price of her independence— knowing if he accepted her into his weyr, he would be responsible for her and she would in turn have to bow to his wishes.

Respect was hard won and those willing to honour the old ways was even more rare.

To slaughter her would waste that— and the dragonlings that would go mad with their mother’s death.

Ryūkotsusei pressed his teeth to her neck, allowing his yōki and jaki to pour through his fangs as he bit her, just enough to instill his mark upon her and claim her for the Eastern Lands. Purple swirls, the mark of his line, moved across her skin to join those that were already there.

“I accept you into my weyr,” Ryūkotsusei said, pulling away, noticing how she did not move, even as the blood trickled down her throat.

She waited as the wound healed before she bowed to him.  

Ryūkotsusei found it strange how easily the respect came from this new inuyōkai, the likes of which he had never seen before. He liked what he saw.

“Climb upon my back and I shall fly you to our yōsai, where your weyr awaits your introduction,” he said.

Kagome nodded and climbed up, beckoning her dragonlings, and they all flew into her arms and around her body, tucking themselves into her mokomoko. Sesshōmaru looked at her with conflict, perhaps not understanding the vastness of what she had done for his sake, nor why she  would have to.

Coming to a decision, he followed her, tucking himself into her warmth as the mighty Ryūkotsusei took to the air and flew east.

 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

**End of Chapter 2**

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**A/N:** Thank you for all your support on chapter one. I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well. Please let me know what you think. I enjoy hearing from you.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



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